Against
by Sam the Rider of Moose
Summary: When Damiana, a young Arun witch, befriends a classmate named Daniel, her family is anything but ecstatic. On top of that, Daniel is infamous amongst the vampires. Will Damiana have to protect her new friend alone or leave him to his fate?
1. Special

**Prologue**

Pain. How could something so beautiful and natural cause so much pain? The last moments seemed to be the hardest of the whole ordeal. When the pain is at its peak, when your body feels as if it will shut down completely from the sheer force of the pain, it is alleviated. That is when the weight and the power of the situation finally hit you… hard.

The room was filled with crying and screaming, yet everyone was pleased and at ease. The air around everyone buzzed with excitement and an overwhelming feeling of welcome, happiness, and love. Even through the ache she still felt throughout her body and the suffocating feel of the fatigue that she was fighting in her mind, she shared the feelings of those around her. No, she felt those feelings and many more feelings beyond that: hope, anxiety, and a desire to protect and care for. The dull ache was fading quickly, leaving only the fatigue and anxiety. Why had she not been shown anything yet?

A close family friend approached her bedside. In their arms, they held a precious gift that everyone had been waiting for anxiously. Concealed inside the layers of fragrant blankets lay the one thing she knew she could no longer live without.

"Oh, Damiana… you do not know how long I have waited." The small bundle was gently placed in her waiting arms. She carefully peeled back the layers of cloth.

"Oh, Nina," someone let out an awed whisper, "Just beautiful."

Beautiful did not even describe what she held so close to her now. Just being in such close proximity caused the protective feelings to surge deep within her again. Whatever happened from this point on did not matter as long as this one thing was safe.

"I welcome you wholeheartedly, Damiana Atla Arun. I promise that I will protect your life with my own." The bundle of blankets moved gently, somehow showing that it knew its name before it had even been given.

The rest of the Arun line murmured their agreement from their positions around the room, "We welcome you as a member of our line, Damiana Atla Arun. We promise to protect your life with our own, as long as you reciprocate our actions back to any of us when the need arises. If you do not uphold your end of the agreement, precautionary or disciplinary actions will be enacted."

The newborn child gave a small, nearly unnoticeable smile. She already understood quite well what was being asked of her and what she must do in return. She understood the consequences of her failure to uphold the agreement, what would come about if she betrayed her family's trust. She understood more than is believed possible for someone her age. She was different; she was strong; she was an Arun.

* * *

**1. Special**

_THIRSTY. JUST SO thirsty. I needed to sate my thirst, relieve some of the fire ravaging my throat. I needed to hunt. It was so difficult to focus on anything but that gnawing burn that was battering my insides._

_Although I was running at such a fast pace, I could see every knot and hole and scratch in all the passing trees with such clarity. I could hear every bug crawling across the numerous surfaces surrounding me. I could smell the droppings of animals and the stagnant water in the ditches and lower dips of land along the side of my makeshift path. The need for blood heightened my senses, making it easier to locate prey._

_Ba-umph, ba-umph, ba-umph. There, the sound I needed. Even from this distance away, I could hear the heartbeat and the gentle slosh the blood made as it travelled through the veins and pumped through the heart. The sound was alluring, deliciously seductive. I NEEDED that blood. Now._

_Nearing the sound of the gentle heartbeats, I instinctively lowered into a low crouch. I could feel the hunter in me overpower my conscious thoughts. It felt good to let my body and mind do what it was made to do while I reaped the rewards. Slowly, carefully, my feet moved me towards the blonde curls shining silkily under the beam of a precariously placed flashlight._

"_Camping a bit far out into the woods, are we?" I murmured to the fair headed young woman._

_The girl jumped, spinning around to face me head on. "I'll be fine. I stored my food properly and chose a good spot to set up my tent. Plus, my cellphone is always handy." The girl's voice shook and nearly broke midsentence but she managed to get a coherent sentence out. Her heartbeat was speeding up and her blood was moving faster. Silly girl. It was painfully hard not to attack right then, but I wanted to make this a clean one. I didn't want to stain my new cashmere sweater._

"_Well, I must say that I have to disagree with you. You see, some beasts in the woods aren't always after what you humans consider to be a decent meal… sometimes they'd prefer something considerably fresher." I smiled malliciously, allowing my teeth to glint from the glow of her flashlight. She began to back away slowly, but I was behind her in nanoseconds. Using my power, I could easily reach into her mind and relax her thoughts. She gently leaned back into my arms. I rested her head on my shoulder, allowing her hair to slide back and expose her vulnerable neck. I could feel her pulse, smell the delicious blood gently cycling through her. Wordlessly, I lowered my lips to her throat and pierced her neck with my razor-sharp canines. The seductively warm, thick liquid coated my tongue while the smell and taste overwhelmed my senses. I kept drinking, savoring, until finally, her heart took its last beat…_

* * *

Damiana woke with a start, fighting back the urge to vomit. A thin layer of sweat was covering her entire body, causing her t-shirt to stick to her chest uncomfortably. It was vivid, too much so. It had to have been close. She cursed under her breath. "Shit. Filthy leeches. They should know better than to come this close to a witch's house." Reluctantly, she untangled her legs from the twisted knots in her sheets.

She listlessly flipped on the light switch for her bathroom vanity and gazed into the eyes her mirror reflected back at her. She looked awful: slight purple shadows under her bloodshot eyes, knots and tangles all through her curly auburn hair. Despite her appearance, she was happy with what she saw; everything she had dreamt stayed where it should. Damiana knew she shouldn't even consider herself a vampire but the dream was so lifelike and vivid… too real for her disciplined mind to formulate on its own.

She spit, hoping to cleanse her mouth of the horrible taste still lingering there. She splashed her face with the cool water from the tap. She needed to clear her hazy thoughts and erase the images of the sickening things she'd dreamt about. She pulled her t-shirt up over her head and tossed it lightly into the hamper. _A shower, yeah, that's what I need. I can't be tense, _she thought, _too many new people to keep my eyes on today._ Damiana turned the knobs and got the water to a nice temperature and climbed in, hoping to mend her fraying nerves before another first day of school.

* * *

Wearing a pair of plain jeans and a simple white tank top, Damiana descended the stairs and sped out her front door. She had no desire to find out what inedible disaster her mother had managed to put together. Although, with her heightened senses and her "special" ability, she was sure it was some monstrosity that she wouldn't wish on even the most ruthless bloodsucker. The morning temperature was comfortable; a sign that midday today would be pretty warm. A gentle breeze blew and picked up sections of Damiana's hair and tossed it about. The air did wonders on clearing her cluttered mind. Her head felt lighter and airier; better than it had this morning. On such a nice morning such as this, dark thoughts were almost impossible to sustain for long.

Rochelle High School was only about 10 blocks from her house, so Damiana took the walk at a leisurely pace; anything to put off her upcoming responsibilities to teachers, schoolwork, friends, and most importantly, family. With so many vampires inhabiting the small Michigan town, Damiana was weighted with the responsibility of watching over the local teens attending Rochelle High. It was terrible, really. The already long classes seemed to drag on for eternities, partly due to the fact that she knew nearly the entire curriculum for sophomores.

High school was a killer. If boredom and boisterous young adults weren't enough to give her a headache, the constant inflow of thoughts from her many peers would. Damiana couldn't block her mind-reading abilities in school: any mind could contain a snapshot or little clip of info that could be crucial to protecting the lives of the innocents in her school. _Heh… innocents. Hardly. Teenage humans are second only to vampires on the cruelty scale. Ruining someone's self-image and respect, dropping people into garbage cans, purposely inflicting pain, insulting and lying about others. It's depressing and downright pathetic. Sometimes I think they really just want to die by the way they ac…_

"Dami!" Damiana turned around slowly to face whoever was behind her, interrupting her thoughts. She wanted to act surprised, although she'd known who was following behind her since 2 blocks back.

"Good morning, Jackie." Damiana replaced her reluctant frown with a more welcoming faux smile. "How long have you been behind me?" _5 minutes and 42.6 seconds or approximately .32 miles._

"I… dunno, maybe… 10 minutes or… so?" Jackie said breathlessly. _Wrong_. "I was… eating breakfast and I… saw you walk past so… I decided to try to… catch up… to you. Thought you might like… some company… this morning." _Wrong again_._ Oh, wow, when did I get so bitter?_

"Oh, thank you, but you didn't have to abandon your breakfast just to make sure I'm not lonely." She replaced her forced smile with a more genuine one. She did like Jackie's company; she made it easy for Damiana to keep her thoughts preoccupied. She chattered on and on incessantly but on some occasions, her inability to keep quiet was a blessing.

"Nah, no worries. Once you've had cereal, there isn't really anything new you can experience from it. And besides, you're way more interesting than Cheerios."

Damiana laughed at Jackie's attempt at a compliment. "Well, I'm happy you feel that way. I usually like to think I'm more entertaining than milk and wheat shaped like pool floats." The pair began to walk the last half-block to Rochelle, sharing the details of their summers and semester schedules. _Maybe today won't be too unbearable._

* * *

"'Maybe today won't be too unbearable.' Chyeah, right. What the hell was I smoking this morning to even have **thought** that?" Damiana quietly mocked herself as she dialed in her locker combination. So far, her teachers were as emotionless and apathetic as a white wall and about as interesting as one, too. She'd been bumped into and nearly knocked over on more than one occasion so far and she didn't know anyone even slightly familiar in any of her classes. To top it all off, every mind in the school seemed to be in overdrive, flooding her senses with so many muddled thoughts; it was enough to drive anyone up the wall. "Only two classes left, Damiana. You can fight off vampires in close quarters combat, more than one at a time sometimes, why can't you handle a typical day of mortal high school?"

She did a quick book exchange and continued on to her next class: Biology. This was a class she could really get into. Studying life and its purpose and inner workings fascinated her. It gave her a new respect for life and strengthened her desire to protect it from harm. She may not agree with what humans chose to do and not to do with their lives but it was her job to protect said lives all the same. Anything to make her want to do so even more was certainly welcome.

The Biology class was a small one: only about 10 students in all. Still, none of the faces seemed even relatively familiar. The small class gave Damiana ample chance to relax a bit. With so few minds in one room, the explosion of senses was lowered to just a dull roar. She let out a contented sigh as the beginning-of-class bell rang. The teacher, a relatively good looking young man in his late 20's, dutifully walked to the front of the classroom. He introduced himself as Mr. Sillen. He was wearing a nice dark blue sweater that fit his trim upper body well. He wore relaxed khakis and classic Converse. _Snap out of this! NO ogling the teacher. Just… focus on your class work and the task your family has given to you. This is no time to lose your focus!_

"…Damiana? Damiana Arun? Damianaaa… anyone home? I believe the world of Biology is calling for your attention. Maybe even yelling for it." Mr. Sillen called, suddenly at her table.

"Huh-whaa?" She shook her head, trying to bring herself back to the present. "Oh, I-I'm sorry, Mr. Sillen. I wasn't paying attention; I promise I'll try harder." Damiana could feel her cheeks get warm. She wasn't used to having attention be drawn to her. In fact, she tried desperately to blend into the crowd, be as commonplace as possible.

Mr. Sillen laughed, "This is a classroom, Damiana, not a military line up. Daydreaming once in a while isn't harmful… unless, you know, you're driving or cooking or shaving or having your name called for attendance or…" The class let out a few giggles at his jokes. Damiana felt her face redden a few more shades. "Anyway, continuing on. Carina Baker?"

"Here. Thankfully, I wasn't completely disregarding the teacher." Carina responded almost instantaneously. She turned to face Damiana and gave her a deliberate smirk. _Hope she enjoyed that comment._ Damiana stopped reading Carina's thoughts right there. She felt intruding on her thoughts any longer might end in Carina losing a few of her falsely tan limbs, preferably her pretty little head. While Damiana plotted, Mr. Sillen continued attendance as usual. He reached the bottom of his list and took a seat atop one of the unoccupied lab tables at the very front.

"So, Biology, what a-" Mr. Sillen was suddenly interrupted by a light knocking on the door. "Oh, a late comer? Come on in, it's open!"

Upon Mr. Sillen's prompting, the knocker opened the door and stepped inside. "Uh, sorry… Mr. Sillen, right?" Mr. Sillen nodded and the newcomer continued, "I hate making excuses but I haven't been able to find any of my classes today… this is the only class I've managed to find on time, or as close to it as I could hope to get."

"Oh, no, don't worry about it. Being new is the best excuse you could give. Next to being late because you were buying me lunch or something, of course. Who could give someone detention after getting free lunch?"

"Someone who doesn't eat lunch? Or dislikes anything free." A boy at the table in front of Damiana answered. She hadn't noticed before, but his raven hair was streaked with grass-green dye. She didn't understand why she hadn't noticed him earlier. _You weren't paying attention, were you? You were daydreaming about the teacher!_

"Damiana? Daydreaming again?" Mr. Sillen's voice brought her back down to reality. She could just manage a tiny nod to his question. She had, in fact, been daydreaming again.

This time, the classroom burst out with laughter, directly aimed at Damiana. She felt her face slowly reddening again. She was further reminded that she wasn't accustomed to this much attention, albeit only a room with 11 other people total. Damiana could barely stammer out an apology this time around, "Sorry, Mr. Sillen. Can you please repeat the question?"

"Certainly. The seat next to you, is it taken? I'd like our new friend Daniel Ronan here to have a table-mate on his first day. Maybe someone to show him around a bit." Mr. Sillen gave her a convincing smile. She fought against the urge to lie; not that she couldn't pull it off and fool any human here effortlessly but she wouldn't handle the resulting guilt well. Damiana chanced a glance around the room, seeing the faces of the other girls around her; all of their faces were painted with a look of sheer jealousy. It was obvious, even without mind reading, to understand why they were so willing to "help" Daniel: they just wanted a chance at him. She saw this as a perfect opportunity to get a little bit of her frustration taken care of.

"No, this seat isn't taken. Daniel's welcome to it," She gave Mr. Sillen and Daniel the most innocent smile she could manage, although it came out more as a smirk that only a cat would wear once it had snatched the canary from its cage. "Oh, and I'd also be happy to escort Mr. Ronan around the school. I'm sure everyone understands how hard it is to be new some place or another at some point in their lives."

"Alright, Daniel, you're new lab partner will be Miss Damiana Arun. Now as long as we're on the subject of labs and partners, I thought we might review a few lab safety rules and…" Mr. Sillen continued to list the safety rules that were basically common knowledge for Damiana now. Once again, she allowed her mind to wander, this time only allowing it a short line so that it can easily be drawn back in.

As Daniel approached their new shared workspace, Damiana finally focused on the way he looked. It was something new. Something Damiana wanted to find out about. She didn't expect to react the way she did when he looked directly at her. She let out a barely audible sound of a suppressed gasp. He was handsome, no, gorgeous! She was having trouble tearing herself away until he stood right before her, asking her to scoot in so he could move past. _Absolutely ANYTHING for you, Dan, _she thought as she jerked her chair forward towards the black-topped lab table, _Thank you Mr. Sillen._

"Hey Damiana, it's nice to finally meet my new lab partner. My last science teacher wouldn't allow partners. She constantly thought we might end up lighting ourselves on fire or ruining her lab in some way, shape, or form." Daniel greeted Damiana jovially. He seemed to enjoy her company. _Most others choose to ignore me; not that I don't blame them, next to vampires and themselves, I'm the most deadly thing here. By subconsciously steering clear of me, these humans keep themselves safe._ That argument with her own head never made the overwhelming issue feel any better: she had no friends except one chatterbox and most of the faculty.

Her mind praised her for staying so emotionally distant, for her sake and her classmates' sakes. But her heart thought otherwise; it ached for company. Her body needed it. These feelings were painful to deal with. Damiana had never heard of anyone in her family line who desired friendships and company the way she hungered for it. "Likewise, Daniel. I cannot wait to get to work with you on lab projects." _Oh, smooth, way to sound _not _creepy. You'll set the record for shortest time with a new lap partner._ She turned her body towards him, showing he had her full attention.

"Nice. Oh, I was wondering, would you still like to show me around a bit after class? I don't want to make you miss anything for me." Daniel looked over at her exposed legs nervously, a faint blush forming on his cheeks. _Damnit… she has nice legs. If only she knew how much she's teasing me by doing that. Ugh, no. Don't screw this up with her by having those thoughts. I _want_ to get to know her, now._ Damiana could hear him think to himself. He liked her legs, he wanted to know her, and he didn't want to screw anything up to scare her away. How sweet. She'd never heard anyone say or even think anything like that about her. Damiana **knew** she was going to enjoy this school year here, now.

_Hey, maybe things will perk up this year._ "No, it's no problem. It's **definitely** my pleasure." Damiana could feel a grin spread across her face. Daniel returned it wholeheartedly. _Yeah, this is going to be a good year._


	2. Unreal

**2. Unreal**

Damiana opened her eyes grudgingly, then quickly closed them. The sunlight coming through her blinds nearly blinded her momentarily sensitive eyes. _No wonder they're called blinds._ She thought to herself. Her subconscious had been pleading with her via her dreams from the previous night: get closer to Daniel, know him, enjoy him. In her dream, she was the heroine. Daniel was in the forest, holding a wrapped up bundle, something obviously precious if he hadn't dropped it already. He was breathing hard, obviously from running. Damiana had caught his arm, and questioned him furiously. He said they were after him, the leeches. They came, she killed, and they kissed. Simple. Happy. Definitely not likely to happen.

_Not 100% unlikely but I'd never allow those damn undead blood banks anywhere NEAR my territory, let alone someone I happen to like._ She shook her head. No, she didn't like him, she couldn't like him. She hadn't even SPOKEN to him… had she? Damiana didn't doubt Daniel's existence. She doubted the events that had happened after she knew of his existence. _I didn't agree to escort him around campus, I didn't agree to be his lab partner, and I __**certainly**__ didn't shamelessly flirt with a mortal. An extremely adorable mortal, at that…_ She relentlessly shook her head. She wasn't allowed to tolerate those thoughts.

She struggled to pull her thoughts back to reality. Rolling out of bed, she flung her blanket back, prevenfting herself from bringing it off the sheets with her. Once free of her polyester prison, Damiana realized how warm she felt and how nice the cold tile of her bathroom floor felt under the soles of her feet. _No, no, no! I __**can't**__ be getting sick! The likelihood of me getting some sort of illness is very low. There has to be a simple explanation for this._ Scampering over to her show stall, Damiana began turning the knobs, reaching a temperature about 5 degrees cooler than her usual temperature. The falling water felt fantastic against her flushed skin. She uttered a sigh of comfort as she began to feel a bit cooler.

She continued her usual shower routine: wash her body, shave, wash her hair and face. The feeling of monotony soothed her. _Heh, my second stressed morning this week. Maybe I shouldn't be surprised if I'm getting sick. This is certainly not a good way to begin a Monday._ Turning the knobs off, she flung back the shower curtain and stepped out of the shower. Damiana plucked her towel from the hamper top and wrapped herself in it, using a second towel to begin drying her hair. She approached her closet, extracting a baby blue polo shirt and a pair of khaki capris, something normal and hardly noticeable. The last thing she wanted was a repeat of yesterday's Biology escapades. The amount of unnecessary attention she'd received was unbearable to say the least.

As she pulled her polo shirt over her head and slipped into her capris, Damiana considered her options for today. Staying as inconspicuous as possible was definitely her top priority, as was paying more attention to the now and less attention to the daydream world. On top of those, she needed to treat Daniel as indifferently as possible, just as she did all of her other classmates. She knew that nothing she'd said to Daniel yesterday had actually been said, so she reminded herself that it was of immense importance to treat him the same as everyone else.

"Damiana what in Macht's name are you doing? You're going to be late for school if you don't hurry up and get down here!" Damiana's mom, Nina, yelled up the stairs, interrupting her planning. She quickly turned her attention to her clock radio on her bedside table. _Oh, shit! 7:35! I have 10 minutes to gather my books, run to school, visit my locker AND somehow make it to class on time. I'm immortal but I'm not a super hero!_ Damiana quickly bustled around her room, grabbing all her school things and pushing them into her backpack. She slipped on some tan flats and sped down the stairs, taking 3 at a time.

"No, mom, no time for breakfast. No time for anything but running." Damiana answered her mother's thoughts before she even asked anything. Nina grabbed the door and pulled it open, allowing Damiana to speed right through, just managing to give her mom a goodbye kiss on her cheek. "'Bye mom! Don't worry, I'll start dinner tonight!"

She was already a good distance away before she heard her mother's answering yes. The run to school from her house was about 5 minutes, leaving her with 5 extra minutes to change books and make it to homeroom on time. Ms. Cole wasn't so forgiving for late starters; she'd lock the door on anyone who wasn't on time. Being locked out would mean a trip to the office to get a tardy slip, which would subsequently lead to being late to your first class of the day. Damiana hadn't been late to class once in her life. She'd been out "sick" on numerous occasions but never tardy. She certainly wasn't going to make her second day of a new school year her first tardy day.

Damiana glanced at her watch, "7:39, and the school is barely 2 blocks away… I should make it there with 5 minutes to spare." She sped up slightly, crossing the street into the school parking lot. She motored on, bursting through the main door and jogging as quickly as she dared to her locker. Expertly spinning in her combination and pulling out all the books she'd need until lunch, she checked her watch once again. _7:41. Perfect._ She slammed her locker, spun around, and smashed right into someone directly behind her.

"Oh shit!" The student yelled when he and Damiana collapsed on the floor, books and loose leaf paper flying in all directions around the hallway. Damiana didn't even bother seeing who'd she'd run into, or even peeking into their thoughts. She began snatching at all her papers and books, stowing them safely into her pack. She murmured an apology and sped off again in the direction of her homeroom. She just managed to make it into the classroom before Ms. Cole could grab the door handle.

"Miss. Arun, cutting it a bit close, are we? Not a bright way to begin your second day of sophomore year. Good impressions are always important, considering you only get to complete sophomore year once." Ms. Cole said frostily. She disliked Damiana the moment she'd seen her, immediately assuming she was nothing but a "hooligan", as she'd stated it.

"I'm sorry, Ms. Cole. I got a little bit behind schedule this morning and I was just a tad rushed. I won't let it happen again." Damiana averted her eyes towards the ground and quickly walked to her seat. _I probably would've been better off just being late and missing homeroom. At least Mr. Sillen is more accommodating to someone being late._ She looked down into her backpack and did a quick inventory check, making sure she hadn't left behind anything of utter importance. Everything seemed to be where it should, thankfully.

The announcements came in over the speakers in the back of the classroom. Nothing extremely new this morning. The girls' soccer team won their second game of the season, the math team would hold their first practice Friday morning before school, and Mr. Sillen was looking for students interested in forming a Biology team for the take competitions. _There's state Biology meets? I thought only math teams had those. I'm not exactly surprised; Mr. Sillen seems the type to look into something such as that._

BEEP. Damiana's thoughts were once again disrupted. She shouldered her pack and allowed herself to be carried out with the crowd of her peers. Her first class of the day was Biology. She was happy to have her favorite teacher first but a bit anxious to have to be in such close proximity with Daniel again. She definitely didn't doubt that she'd daydreamed up everything that had happened the previous class, but she couldn't deny the fact that it'd be hard to ignore him almost completely. If she wanted to get good grades in this class, she'd have to work with him. Damiana could get every question right but if she wouldn't allow her partner to participate or really learn, her participation would suffer and so would his grades. She'd be wracked with guilt if she caused someone to fail because she couldn't handle working with them.

She got to Mr. Sillen's room and took her seat. She was the first one there; even Mr. Sillen hadn't come in yet. Damiana reached into her bag and extracted her binder and book. She pulled out her pen and a highlighter. She was just about to begin to date her notes when her _favorite_ person, Carina, walked in. She looked at Damiana with disdain and then took her seat across the room.

"Good morning, Carina." Damiana thought she might as well attempt kindness. She was aiming for indifference from her peers, not hate. Hate would only distract her from her tasks.

"Excuse me, freak, but who said I was interested in hearing what you had to say?" Was Carina's snide remark.

"Well, I assumed since you were looking at me when you walked that you expected me to say something to you."

"Why in hell would I want to hear what you have to say to me? Why would I even want to hear you _talk_?" Carina began to rummage in her bag. She pulled out a lip gloss tube and began applying the gloss to her lips, trying to completely ignore Damiana.

"Most decent human beings prefer to show kindness to their fellow humans by acknowledging them when they talk and making an effort to show some sort of kindness and compassion towards others. They do not immediately write people off as freaks or dumb or weird the moment they see them." Damiana was trying her hardest not to let her anger get the best of her. She was determined to keep the upper hand and not give in to Carina's attempts at making her explode with rage.

"Ex-CUSE me?" Carina slammed her lip gloss on the tabletop and turned around in her seat to face Damiana. She had a mixture of rage and contempt on her face. "How DARE you speak to me like that! I could make your life in this high school a living hell, you little bit-…"

At that moment, Mr. Sillen walked into the room, most of the class following behind him. They stopped when they saw the scene before them: Carina standing up, hands balled into fists, her face darkened with anger, and Damiana, sitting serenely in her seat, her notebook open and pen in hand. All evidence pointed to Carina throwing a tantrum at someone who was, as far as everyone could tell, completely innocent.

"I'm a little what, Carina? It isn't very polite to stop mid-sentence when telling a story." Damiana said politely, giving Carina a look of mock questioning. Carina's face changed from a faint pink to a deep red. It was hard to determine whether it was from embarrassment or sheer anger.

"Nothing…" Carina managed to mutter, grudgingly sitting back in her seat. She busied herself with taking out her books and her other supplies.

"Oh, alright then." Damiana said happily, turning her attention back to her notes.

_That little goddamn bitch. How DARE she even humiliate me like that in front of EVERYONE! She thinks she's above me, better than me, just because she gets to sit next to Daniel. She better not get too comfortable next to him cause once I'm through with her, there won't be enough of her to take up that seat._ Damiana could hear Carina thinking. An evil smile spread across her lips. Carina was going to attempt to _hurt_ her? What a hilarious thought: a girl with barely enough muscle on her to move and absolutely no fighting experience against Damiana, covered in lean muscle and as much fighting experience as a black belt in karate. If they were to fight, Carina would be the one who would have barely enough left to fill **her** seat.

Damiana was so engrossed in beginning her notes that she didn't even notice Daniel come in and take his seat beside her. When she had finished arranging her notes, she suddenly felt Daniel's aura next to her. _How long has he been there? Not long, I would guess if I just felt it now._ Damiana chanced a glance out of the corner of her eye. He was there, alright, wearing an orange shirt and some dark washed jeans. _What a coincidence… we have complimentary colors today._

"Good morning, class." Mr. Sillen greeted. He waited a minute or two and when he received no answer, clapped his hands together, getting the attention of the students. "Okay, class, lesson in etiquette today. When I say 'good morning, class', you reply with 'good morning, Mr. Sillen'. Now let's try again. Good morning, class."

"Good morning, Mr. Sillen." The class answered in unison.

"Much better. Now today we'll be going over some of the basics that you've probably already learned." The class answered with groans and sighs. "Now don't all get too excited now, there's plenty more to get excited about later. So, what can you tell me about meters?"

* * *

Mr. Sillen's class had continued as usual. Carina hadn't had any more outbursts and Daniel had made a peep. Damiana was grateful. When the bell rang, she hurried off to her geometry class. When she entered the room and sat down, she noticed Daniel come in behind her. He didn't so much as glance at her as he found a seat. Before Damiana could ask him if something was wrong, the rest of the class began filing in and taking their seats, chattering with one another. The teacher walked up to the front and began her lesson.

Before she knew it, the bell had rung for the end of class and Damiana was being herded out of the classroom. She once again hurried to her next class, absentmindedly looking around for someone… she just wasn't sure who. Her next three classes went by just as dizzyingly fast. Before she knew it, it was time for lunch. Damiana withdrew her lunch box from her locker and brought it with her outside onto the back lawns. She plopped down into the grass and opened the top flap of her lunchbox. She looked inside and saw empty containers and a few napkins. _Right, I didn't have time to make lunch this morning. I guess I just assumed my mom would have made some and put it into my lunchbox for me._

Damiana put the flap of her lunchbox back down and placed it off to the side. She lay back on the grass, breathing in the earthy smell around her. Other than almost being late this morning and forgetting her lunch, she was having a pretty decent day. No complications with Daniel, being able to piss off Carina so easily, and just being able to relax outside on a nice, warm day made her day just so much nicer. When the bell rang, she slowly stood, gathered up her things and headed to her locker. She only had one more class before she was free to head home. Today was the day of the week when she had her last two class periods free, meaning she could leave.

Once all her belongings were in her locker safely, she shouldered her back again and headed off to her Spanish class. Upon entering, she noticed another student early to class. Damiana felt her heart momentarily skip a beat. _Daniel! He has __**another**__ class with me? How odd that our schedules are so similar… I sort of wish I had offered to show him around, it wouldn't have been much of a problem for either of us._ For the second time today, Damiana shook her head as she wet to take her seat, clearing her thoughts. _Keep it in the present, Damiana._

Again, Daniel didn't even really greet her as he had the day before. _Maybe he's having a rough day? That would explain him not talking during Biology or even Geometry. I'll keep my eye on him and see how he is tomorrow._ She began pulling out her book and binder when the rest of her peers began walking in, some carrying water bottles, cans, or little bags of food. When the class had settled down a bit, the teacher, Mrs. Rivera, took her spot at the front of the classroom and began writing on the whiteboard. In big, red letters she wrote:

**Partnered pairs for Spanish Project**

Mrs. Rivera continued to transfer the pairs she had on her attendance sheet onto the board. When she had finished, Damiana quickly scanned the list for her name. _I'm partnered with Daniel? Does the world just want to force me to get to know him? Or is someone just pulling a cruel joke on me?_ She peered over at Daniel. He was staring intently at the board. He tore his angry gaze away and looked down, letting out a heavy sigh as he did so. He raised his hand.

"Yes, Daniel?" Mrs. Rivera asked. Damiana continued to stare at him openly now, hoping to catch his eye. She couldn't.

"Do we have to have partners for this project? Could I just work alone?" Daniel said with forced calm. He still refused to look in her direction. "I think I would work better on my own. I… get distracted easily sometimes."

"But Mr. Ronan, what about Miss Arun? I'm sure she wouldn't enjoy working alone." Mrs. Rivera seemed confused by Daniel's request, like he'd asked a difficult math question. "Plus, this is also a participation grade. If you cannot work with a partner, you'd surely get a 0 on that portion."

"How much would a 0 on participation lower my grade?" Daniel wasn't going to back down. He really **didn't** want Damiana as a partner. Damiana could feel stares going from Daniel to Mrs. Rivera to her.

"Well, Mr. Ronan, since this is supposed to be a partnered project, instead of getting an A, you could go down to C+, only if you completely aced this project. No mistakes whatsoever." Mrs. Rivera just looked at Daniel, allowing her answer to sink in.

"Mrs. Rivera, couldn't you just switch partners or something?"

"Daniel, I worked on this list all last night. I will **not** be changing it because you have a small qualm with your partner." Mrs. Rivera looked at Daniel intently, an edge of annoyance in her voice. She wasn't going to back down, either. The students in the room were now just looking from Daniel to Mrs. Rivera and back.

"Why assign a project so early in the year? We've barely even learned anything yet. What are we supposed to even write it on?" Daniel's hands balled into fists. Damiana didn't understand why he was so angry about having her as a partner. What had she done to him to make him so angry? Ignore him? No, it couldn't be that, she ignores plenty of guys and they hardly even care.

"Mr. Ronan, either you accept Damiana as your partner or I assign you an automatic F. Which would you prefer?" Mrs. Rivera was almost yelling, her hands on her desk, staring Daniel down.

Daniel sat there quietly for a minute. _He's actually considering taking the F,_ Damiana thought, _He'd take an F over partnering with me?_ She could feel her throat tighten a bit, like she was going to cry. _He's just a human boy, why should him not wanting to be my partner affect me this way?_ Damiana looked away from him, feeling hurt by him and disgusted with herself.

Daniel let out another heavy sigh. "Never mind, Mrs. Rivera, it's no big deal. I'll stay partnered the way I am. Please, continue explaining."

Damiana couldn't concentrate on the class anymore. She couldn't really think at all. The only thing that kept popping into her mind was the angry look in his eyes when he saw he had been partnered with her. After what seemed to be an eternity, the end of class bell rang. Damiana was lagging behind; her body felt like it was weighed down, too slow-moving. She felt like she was surrounded by water, slowing her movements and thoughts down severely. She almost didn't hear Mrs. Rivera say her name before she left.

"Yes, Mrs. Rivera?" Damiana said quietly, not turning around.

"Are you alright? Daniel should not have acted that way. I was absolutely tempted to not even give him the benefit of an option and just automatically fail him on the spot. What a total lack of respect! Whatever any boy says or thinks, Damiana, you're a good student and a good young woman; I know from Mr. Merrina, your teacher last year." Mrs. Rivera seemed sincerely worried about her.

"Uh… it's fine, Mrs. Rivera. I honestly didn't take it to heart. I'll be fine and work twice as hard on this project." Damiana flashed a brief smile at Mrs. Rivera and slowly crossed the threshold, out the door. Sluggishly, she meandered down the hall. She walked to her locker and gathered up the books she'd need for that night's homework. She plucked her lunchbox from the top of the lockers and walked towards the main door to the school, allowing her feet to take her home at their own pace.

When she was nearly to the door, she absentmindedly opened the flap to her lunchbox and reached in. "What the hell?!" Damiana exclaimed, dropping her lunchbox to the ground, looking at her fingers. They were covered in a brown substance. Then, the smell hit her. _Someone put DOG SHIT in my lunchbox!_ She couldn't hold back any longer. She let the tears flow freely from her eyes, now. She thought she deserved it, considering all that had happened to her in under an hour. After a quick stop in the bathroom to clean off her hands, leaving her lunchbox behind, Damiana ran the whole 10 blocks home, tears running down her cheeks.


	3. Rebel

**3. Rebel**

Nina had arrived home, expecting to see Damiana feverishly cooking away in the kitchen accompanied with the delicious smell of something in the oven. Instead, the scene she saw was less pleasing: nothing but a backpack carelessly flung upon the floor and an empty kitchen. The slight shock and agitation Nina felt might have been lessened had there at least been a note explaining Damiana's absence. _Damiana doesn't usually ignore her end of promises and duties like this. It's very unlike her._

Nina took on the role of caring mother and commanding elder, all rolled into one. She sensed something had happened, causing her motherly need to comfort to surface. She also felt the need to reprimand, for Damiana should be strong enough to keep her end of a promise together. As a preliminary search and also a way to put off the imminent argument she felt coming, Nina searched all the rooms on the first floor: bathroom, basement, TV room, and obviously the kitchen. After seeing no trace of Damiana downstairs, as she had expected, Nina began to ascend the stairs slowly to a silent second floor.

_Maybe she went out… no, she most likely would've left a note. Unless she went somewhere that she knows I wouldn't allow… no, no. I know my own daughter. She knows her duties._ Nina repeated her process upstairs, checking her office, her bedroom, and the bathroom, leaving only Damiana's bedroom for last. As she approached the closed door, Nina so desperately hoped her daughter had a decent and sufficient excuse, for she remembered herself at that age. _Damn, I was a nightmare. But Damiana isn't like me at that age. I was more rebellious, whereas she is more bookish. Although, it's never too late to alter your personality…_

_Tap tap._ "Damiana? Baby, you awake?" Nina lightly knocked on her daughter's bedroom door. After receiving no answer from her first inquiry, Nina knocked again, a bit harder. _Knock knock._ "Dami? You in there, babe? I just want to talk with you. Come on, baby, you can trust me with anything, you know that."

Behind the closed door, she could hear the faint rustle of clothing and the squeak of a floorboard under bare feet as Damiana approached her door from the other side. Still, no answer and no opened door. Nina tentatively reached for the glass handle of her daughter's door, hearing a metallic click of the lock the moment her hand had wrapped carefully around the knob.

"Damiana," Nina said in a more forceful tone, "What is going on? You promised to make dinner for us when I got home and when I do arrive home, exhausted, I find a lack of dinner and a lack of your presence." Nina jiggled the handle to add emphasis to what she was saying, as if to show how frustrated she was now.

Yet again, Nina's attempts bore unsuccessful results. She jiggled the handle harder, toying with it to the point of nearly tearing it out of the door itself. "Damiana Atla Arun, I am speaking to you and ordering you as both your mother and elder witch of this household. For the love of Macht and your fellow Arun witches, I **DEMAND** you open this door immediately!" Nina yelled angrily, taking on the tone she used during Arun clan gatherings. It inevitably meant that she was **not** in the mood to take any shit from anyone.

Still, the lock remained tight and still and the door remained closed. "Damiana, if you do not open this door this instant, I will be forced to kick it in myself. I will subsequently break your door enough that it will not close again properly, leaving you without the privacy I privilege you with!"

A moment later, Nina heard the lock click again and felt the handle turn slowly in her firm grip. The girl she saw standing in the doorway before her was not what she had expected to confront. Damiana stood in the door, pajamas on and disheveled, her usually pristine ponytail sprouting hair in all directions and angles, red-rimmed and puffy eyes, and a confused and hazy look in her eyes, like someone who hadn't had enough hours for sleep the previous night. This was certainly not the vibrant girl she'd seen this morning, booking it on the way to school.

After her momentary shock, Nina's anger and frustration once again resurfaced. She needed a release and decided that yelling at the top of her lungs would be good enough. "Damiana, what in Macht's name is your problem?! You are never to treat me with such disrespect like that again! Do you hear me, Damiana? Damnit, girl, answer me when I am talking to you!"

To Nina's surprise, her daughter didn't even flinch, the dazed look on her face fixed there as if it were stone. Nina attempted again, barraging her with more anger. "Ugh, this is **not** the way an Arun witch acts, Damiana, especially one of your importance and stance! Do you think since I have such a high rank amongst our clan that you can just act however you like? That people won't be angered by what you say or do just because your dear old mum's there to break their necks? Sorry to say this, honey, but I do not plan on breaking my own neck because I made you upset. Damiana, damnit, are you listening to a word I'm saying to you?!" Nina grabbed Damiana by her shoulders and gently shook her. Again, she graced her mother with yet another look of complete indifference, the tired look still plastered on her features.

Nina released her daughter's shoulders, feeling at a loss for words and utterly confused. Damiana turned around slowly and drifted back to her bed, where she plopped face down, replacing the pillow that she obviously had positioned on her head. Nina knew something must be bothering Damiana deeply. _After a verbal assault like that, she's usually apologizing frantically, hoping to gain my trust and happiness back. _Unexpectedly, guilt hit her hard and tore up her anger, like a tornado coming into contact with a small, windswept house.

In an instant, her motherly instincts took control. She scurried over to Damiana's bed quickly, lowering herself gently onto the edge. She placed her hand on her daughter's back and rubbed it soothingly. "Damiana, baby, I'm sorry about that… I wasn't being considerate of your feelings just now. Please, Dami, please trust me and tell me what's bothering you?"

After what seemed to be an eternity, Nina could hear Damiana's muffled voice coming from under her pillow. "Yule jufst be angree-er wiff me, movver… I houldn't tell yew."

"Dami, baby, please take the pillow away from your face. I can't understand a word."

Suddenly, Damiana sat up, her back rigid, eyes burning with anger. "You'll just get more upset with me! There's no way in fiery hell I'm telling you now!" She yelled, quickly retreating back into the sanctuary she'd created under her pillow.

Nina just sat there, staring in mild disbelief. She'd assumed Damiana hadn't absorbed a word; that her outburst had gone in one ear and out the other, so to speak. She could feel her guilt slowly building again. _Stop being such a terrible mother! She's not going to trust you if you make her think you'll automatically judge._ She reprimanded herself.

Nina let out a sigh, gently removing the pillow from Damiana's head and placing it in her lap. "Dami, I give you my honest word that I will listen to what you have to say and help you as best as I can. I won't judge anything unless I get all the facts. I promise you." She gently squeezed Damiana's shoulder, silently willing her to sit up and look at her again.

Reluctantly, Damiana sat up again sluggishly. She let out a tired sigh and looked her mother right in the eye. "Really, mom? You honestly promise you'll listen without a previously conceived opinion on it?"

Nina placed both hands lovingly on either side of her daughter's face, placing her lips gently on Damiana's forehead. "Of course, baby. I'll try my best to listen to your every word."

Damiana let out a haggard sigh. "Mom, as you know, I usually don't take what the human students at school say to me or how they treat me." She paused, as if asking her mother to argue her point.

Nina nodded. "Yes, I know."

"Well," Damiana continued, "I keep that going due to the fact I try not to get too close with any of my peers, other than the occasional greeting or friendly smile." Once again, she paused, absentmindedly playing with a loose thread on her pajama pants. She took a deep breath, as if to brace herself against an onslaught of anger. "I think I got one angry. I don't know how and I don't know why she hates me so much but she does! And I don't know how to make her stop and listen to me! She's trying to make my life hell and I know it. She threatened to physically hurt me **and** she put dog shit in my lunchbox after school! I tried to be nice, really I did, but she was just so terrible and rude!"

"Baby… you know how torturous mortal girls are, how hard they try to inflict mental pain on other females they find threatening. It should be a compliment, she subconsciously finds you equal to or better than she. Just give her time to get to know you a bit better. If she doesn't change, maybe I can have a bit of a "chat" with her about all this." A mischievous grin spread across her face, like that of a dog who has finally managed to catch that infernal squirrel. She absentmindedly cracked her knuckles for more emphasis on her point.

"Uh, thank you, mom. I'll certainly keep that in mind. And I honestly wish I could believe you when you say she'll want to get to know me better. She honestly hates me, mother. Nothing else to it…"

"Dami, you can get through this girl's little hissy fits with grace and a level head, I know it. I know you well enough that you'll choose how best to handle the situation. Now if that's all that's really bothering you, I think we should…" Nina began to rise from the bed when Damiana interrupted.

"Mom, that isn't exactly all I wanted to talk to you about. There's more to it." Damiana waited for her mom to sit down comfortably again and took in a steadying breath. It didn't seem to help much, since she was talking nearly a mile a minute, frantically twisting and pulling that same loose thread. "I didn't mean to, mom, honestly! I only looked at him. I couldn't help it!"

"What didn't you mean to do? Damiana, are you alright? Did someone hurt you?" Nina asked suspiciously, imagining all sorts of things that could've transpired to have caused her daughter so much distress.

"Mom, physically, I'm fine… no one's touched me, raped me, or hurt me in any way physically. And I just… looked at him, mom. He was so gorgeous. I couldn't help it! I didn't want to start liking him! But my heart and body decided otherwise…" Damiana looked at her folded hands in her lap, a faint blush spreading across her cheeks.

"You looked at a boy, Damiana?" Nina laughed, obviously amused at her daughter's embarrassment. "I hardly think enjoying the view is much of an issue, babe." She stroked Damiana's hair gently, an entertained smile on her face.

"But mom… I looked and I **enjoyed** it. I wanted to keep looking. I-I wanted to touch him, mom. Not in a sexual way but… I wanted to be close to him. I think that I… might like him, mom."

Nina sighed quietly. "Dami, I know how you're feeling now. I've been like that before with mortals, too. Let me tell you what my mother told me when-"

"Mom, you promised no interruptions!"

"Oh, I'm sorry, baby. Please, continue."

"Well, mom… I don't know what I did but somehow, I made him angry with me. He won't talk to me or even look at me. He almost took an F in Spanish class just because he was partnered with me! Mom, I don't want to be enemies with him. I know I can't really love him, either but… I do want to try to be friends, though. But I don't know what to ask or say to him to find out what I did wrong and make it all better." Damiana finished, her last few words barely a murmur. The mixture of woe and exhaustion evident on her face seemed to age her features significantly.

"This boy hurt you, I knew it. When I get my hands on him…" Nina pulled Damiana into a tight hug and held her there for a few minutes. "Don't worry, baby, guys can just be so stupid and inconsiderate. There're plenty of male witches out there for you and plenty of time to get close to one."

"But mom, I… I like Daniel. I don't want to wait for another male witch to come around for me."

"Dami…" Nina sighed. "Witches are a dwindling race nowadays. There are more and more vampires but fewer witches to get rid of them all."

"Are you telling me I should waste my time finding a male witch just so I can help repopulate the race?" Damiana pulled away from her mother, her voice agitated. "So love doesn't matter to us, does it? It's all about what's best for everyone else but ourselves? 'Oh, this man treats me like shit but my family approves of him so I'll marry him anyway, even though I'll be miserable!' Mom, I don't care if that's how you governed your marriage to dad because I know that there's no way I'm allowing anyone to choose who I love!" Without wasting a minute, she turned her back on her mother's bemused face and stormed out of the room.

Nina could hear the bathroom door slam, shaking a few items on the nightstand and threatening to knock the pictures right off their nails. _Damnit… how did I screw that up again?_ Nina pushed herself to her feet and went to stand before the bathroom door.

"Damiana, I'm sorry, but I can't allow you to like that boy! It'll distract you from what needs to be done. What if he gets bitten and becomes one of them? Could you love a vampire, a leech? What if he isn't what he seems to be, Dami? What if, by some harebrained plot that manages to work, you get this boy to like you? What will you tell him when he asks about you? You damn well **know** you can't tell a mortal anything about our family!" Nina shouted. She needed to get these thoughts across to Damiana before she didn't something she shouldn't. True, she was young and naïve, idealistic even. _But idealism won't get her anywhere in the world. I told her I knew this situation better than her, but she wouldn't even listen. Shit, she's nearly as bad as I was._

Nina reached for the handle, slowly turning it. To her surprise, the handle turned easily. She pushed the door in and surveyed the scene in front of her. The bathroom was empty and the window across the room was opened wide, the curtains fluttering gently from the breeze coming through. She could feel the traces of her daughter's witch aura clinging to the area around the window. "Damnit, Damiana!"

Nina ran the short distance to the open window, staring intensely at the expanse of grass in the backyard. She scanned the grass and bushes close to the house, gradually fanning out to include the trees on the outer edge and the fence separating their plot from the forest beyond. There was no sign of Damiana anywhere. _Shit, shit, shit! Damnit, Damiana! What the hell are you thinking, girl?!_

* * *

Damiana ran. She wasn't precisely sure where she was headed or what she would manage to do once she got there. She just knew that running was of the utmost importance to her mental stability right now. She ran until every muscle and fiber of her being protested against her. But she didn't want to stop. Damiana ran and ran until the stress on her body was too much. Leaning on a tree, she slowly lowered herself to the ground.

_Breathe, Dami, breathe… You just need to calm down and _think._ How long have you been running?_ She checked her watch that she'd forgotten to remove before changing. _About 3 hours… I run at 14 mph on average so… I'd say I'm 42 miles give or take from my house. That should be a safe distance between me and my mother for a while._ Damiana continued to relax and used all her willpower to keep in the groans of pain from the muscle spasms threatening to ruin her forced calm. _Shit… I should've slowed down more gradually. These will kill for at least an hour._

The battle between the pain from overworked muscles and the pain of stopping too quickly fought each other for dominance in her being. The muscle cramps and spasms slowly escalated to the point where Damiana couldn't stand it any longer. She pushed herself up off the ground and gradually made her way through the underbrush and tangled roots, willing the pain to stay at bay. _I need a place to stay the night, someplace I can find sufficient food, water, and shelter. Hopefully I'm not too far from any civilization. Twilight isn't too far off and I don't know these woods well enough this far in. I'd be better off in an unknown town with unknown people than out here where any bloodsucker could be hidden. Or any sort of threat, really._

As if on cue, Damiana could feel it. The pressure of a nearby aura. Something she didn't want to run into in her current physical condition. _For the love of Macht, what sort of luck am I having today?_

With that, Damiana turned in the direction of the foreboding aura and pushed her body once more into a full speed run, willing her limbs to not give out from underneath her. _The last thing I need right now is to collapse in the midst of a fight. I'd probably barely make it out alive._

* * *

Author's Note: Ah-hah! Chapter 3, finally out there. This chapter was sort of needed to define the views of our heroine's family a bit better. There'll be plenty of time to explain some more and get into more detail but right now, I thought we should start with the basics of her mother.

And also, the 42 miles from her and her mother bit... I did do my math, people! I'm not sure if I gave any exact measurements last chapter but she runs just a bit faster than the average male running speed. Meaning, of course, a male in optimum health conditions. And, 3 hours of nonstop running at 14 mph is? Anyone? Bingo, 42 miles!

Reviews and comments are much appreciated! Any spelling mistakes, grammar messups, or plot suggestions and questions are always welcome. Chapter 4 should be up in a few days, based upon my workload this week. I expect around Thursday or so. Enjoy your week, all!


	4. Discovery

**4. Discovery**

Damiana ran on through the dense undergrowth, all her senses fixated on the dangerous aura. When she was a bit closer to her intended target, she stopped to survey. _Okay, the aura is definitely vampiric. Great. Their location is within 100 yards of me, thankfully upwind from me. It's not too safe to say they've already sensed me. That is to say if there's more than one. An aura that large must belong to one very strong vampire or a cluster of significantly weaker ones. Pray to Macht it's the latter._

She began to check her immediate surroundings. As far as she could tell, there were no leeches close enough to attack her and not much other life around to give away her location. With so many tall trees and shadowy underbrush and bushes, she had many options for concealment. _On the other hand, that gives the leeches ample places to hide from me as well._

Again, Damiana widened the range of her senses a bit more, allowing sounds to come to her expectant, trained ears. She couldn't hear anything except her own heartbeat pounding in her ears. _I assume the silence isn't a danger. They're most likely gathered in such a large number that one witch or other unexpected visiftor shouldn't send them into silent panic. If it did, I'd certainly be flattered._

The complete lack of animal life also allowed her to assume a large cluster was present, if their presence could keep away any sort of life. _Or just kill them all, instead._ Damiana began aiming her senses at what seemed to be the center of the cluster, hoping to use the aura-sensing ability she possessed to focus on obtaining a near accurate number of vampires currently present in their cluster. _Assuming they're all there… this is probably their preferable hunting time. Any sort of attack I attempt tonight wouldn't be too logical, seeing as they'd be completely cleared out of the camp. Early morning is out, too. They'd be so hyped up and strengthened by tonight's bloodshed. An attack, if I'm senseless enough to even undertake one, should be at mid-afternoon tomorrow._

Carefully, Damiana began her slow walk closer to the camp. She needed to go slowly: too quick and they'd automatically catch whiff of her scent and the sound of her heartbeat and not waste any time to mob her; too slow and she'd never get there before they all ventured back after their meals. _I just need to scout a bit, see what there is to this leech cluster._

As she began her journey towards possible bodily harm, she worked harder to calculate the number of remaining vampires by pinpointing their concentrations of aura. The auras she found were generally weak; the presence of human blood in them was faint. Nothing really recent or overwhelming, as you'd see after a return from a fresh hunt and kill. As far as Damiana could tell, there weren't many around: 2 or 3 near one end and a straggler a short distance from the little group. _The cluster must be small if they all leave to hunt at night, or they have enough audacity to assume they're invincible._ She snorted with disgust in her head silently. _At least if they're that arrogant, I'm more likely to catch them off guard._

About 10 minutes and 90 yards later, at her gradual, wary pace, she finally could make out an outline through the slightly more sparse growth and foliage. The camp wasn't as large as she'd supposed. A few houses, 6 if there weren't any hidden, each able to hold one or two vampires per; a large building, presumably some meeting area or recreation building for the cluster. That thought made her fight to suppress a course laugh. _Leeches playing checkers or air-hockey in the same "friendly" manner as mortals. What a sight that would be._ She shook her head, trying to clear it of the distracting thoughts. _No, focus, Damiana! This is observation time. I can't afford to miss anything. Who knows how far from their bloodsucker they're willing to go. Running for 42 miles straight for a vampire isn't a terrible feat. Okay, I best pay more attention for any possible threats._

Pulling her head back down to reality, Damiana focused back on the remaining vampires. _One… two… three… weren't there four before?_ Repeating her process, Damiana pushed out her search and began checking the perimeter of the cluster's camp. She sensed nothing upsetting until she was within 10 yards of her own location. Instead of sensing the one vampire she had "misplaced", she now felt two of their sickening auras. She opened her ears and began pushing herself to hear any sort of conversation, all the while building up her mental defenses, attempting to put a wall between her thoughts and the prying leeches. _I love my abilities to read thoughts but I contemn that I get it from them._

"Jaden? What are you doing back so soon? I expected this… meeting to take longer." A smooth, clear female voice could be heard, a bit of confusion seeping into the perfection of it. The sound sent goose bumps scurrying up Damiana's arm.

"Abby, you expect this to be an easy task? He's trickier to corner than you assume him to b-"

The female, Abby, interrupted the velvety suave baritone voice of Jaden. "He's a damn human! How in hell's name is he **that** difficult to corner?!"

"He knows his stuff, Abby. He can control his aura and his mental walls extremely well for such an imbecilic race. I admit he's not as great as any vampire-"

Once again, Abby cut in, "Then what is the problem?! If he's apparently not up to your degree of prowess, why in shit's sake is he this difficult?"

Jaden sighed, "Abby, love, that isn't the only problem…" When his revelation was greeted with furious silence from Abby, he pushed forward. "Well, he wasn't at the pre-determined reunion place, either."

"That little godforsaken pile of worthless flesh! Why do we keep him alive? What worth is he to us?!" Abby was pacing loudly, throwing her hands around in all sorts of gestures. "He'd be plenty delicious, you know that. And since we know his location, we can just meet him there _personally_." She finished off in a dangerously poisonous voice.

"Abby. You're the one who insisted we enlist his assistance. So far, he's been of significant help. He brought the items we needed and all the information we bribed him for. We can't kill him; he's too valuable to us. In addition, think of all the other vampires who receive goods from him. If we killed their supplier, how do you think they'd react?" Jaden used a calm, collected voice meant to soothe.

"They wouldn't **know**, Jaden! How would they know short of actually being there?"

"Our aura traces would be all over the body and the area." He paused, "There's no way we could take him back to camp, Abigail. That is immensely dangerous." Jaden's voice got deeper, more threatening, as if the female vampire had actually suggested it seriously.

"Why? Why can't we? He might not agree but we could make him!" Abby sounded pleading and desperate. Her voice was extremely close to a whine.

"Abigail, listen! His mental walls could never allow us to convince him that way, and he's too cautious to come anywhere with us of his own accord. Plus, if we **did** somehow manage to kill him without an uproar from neighboring clusters, how would the witches react? I've felt a small bit of witch aura clinging to his own. He must be in close proximity with one for me to even be able to sense it on him at all. It was on him yesterday and no doubt would have been today." Jaden used a voice one would use on a child after they stole from the cookie jar.

"Jaden… couldn't we just… just steal him? Hold him here for a while? Then let him go later. No uproar, no witch hunting, no nothing. We'd get our information and our fun and he'd keep his business and witch friends!" She was grabbing for excuses, some small loophole.

Jaden let out a long, tired sigh, as if they'd had this conversation thousands of times before. His voice seemed to have aged with that sigh, "That's nearly as bad. His other customers would come looking, following his scent and with more vampiric activity near our camp; the witches would obviously become aware. We're already under close watch for being in such large numbers, I know it. And if we got him here, what would we do with him? We can't hurt him or torture him in anyway; someone would find out, his customers would see. We wouldn't get any more information from him that we haven't already gotten if we aren't allowed to hurt him. Damnit, Abigail, there's no way around this!" There was a solid thud and a rustle of leaves, as if Jaden had punched a tree and the vibrations hit the leaves.

"Damnit… why are you always right, Jaden?"

"Because I know how you act better than even you do, love."

Abby sighed, obviously recognizing defeat. There were a few minutes pause in conversation.

With the pause in conversation, Damiana dared a peek around her hiding tree. She saw the vampires, Abby and Jaden, quickly embrace, and then meet each other in a passionate kiss. Suppressing complete nausea, Damiana took these few moments to take mental pictures and as many physical details as she could of the two. Jaden was tall, about 6'3", maybe in his early 20's. He had short, ruffled hair of a deep brown color. His skin was the color of heavily creamed coffee, indicating he might've had a deep tan when he had been alive, his skin having been lightened further by the paleness his kind possessed. He was lightly muscled, just enough to prevent him from looking too thin and gangly; the many muscles indicated a life of average labor when he had still been mortal. He would have been handsome except for the fact he could kill you easily if he got the chance or had the desire to do so. Of course, he always had the desire, so you were as good as dead around him.

Abby, who was possibly 5'5", was definitely a head shorter than Jaden. Her hair was shoulder length and was a mahogany color that shone silkily. Her skin was almost completely white, a more common complexion for her kind. She had a slight build, as if she'd been a small girl with minimal strenuous activity when alive. She seemed to be about Damiana's age, 15 or 16. _If they didn't believe they were above the law and obviously older than they look, Jaden would probably be charged with seducing a minor._ Damiana laughed inwardly. A vampire locked in jail was unlikely and even if it did happen, they wouldn't stay there for long.

Before Damiana knew it, the two vampires pulled apart and openly stared in her directions, as if they'd heard her laughter. Instinctively, she tightened her muscles and prepared her daggers for an attack.

Suddenly, as if on cue, another vampire dropped to the ground lightly from a tree a few yards in front her own. The newcomer was nearly as tall as Jaden, with golden hair that went halfway down his back. From what could be seen, he was just as pale as Abby. Damiana didn't ease her grip on her daggers, the reflexive tension refusing to ease. Momentarily, she wondered why, and then quickly banished that inquiry. _Being eased by the presence of yet another vampire. Heh, I'd have to be fucking deranged._

"Good evening Abby. Jaden." From what Damiana could see, the newcomer nodded a greeting to both.

"Hello, Reece." Jaden said, a hint of forced civility in his words. He had an arm extended in front of a rather perturbed Abby; to protect her or to restrain her, Damiana couldn't be certain. "I expected you to be out on the hunt. You didn't catch anything. Why return empty handed?"

"Father sent me out to make sure everyone was out for tonight. He said everyone will need their strength for tomorrow." Reece replied, a sneer evident in his voice.

"I don't think what we do should be any of your fucking busine-" Abby began, furiously. _Seems like Jaden _was _holding her back._ Damiana thought.

Jaden shot his mate a warning glance then returned his attention to Reece. "No need to remind us, we were just on our way out. Hoping to head a bit farther out tonight, maybe, see what's in one of our seldom hunted areas."

"I'm not sure kissing and discussing secretively during an important hunt are what we tolerate here, Jaden." Reece walked closer, causing Jaden and Abby to retreat a few feet back.

"Reece, I hardly think this is a time for a fight. As you said, we need to conserve energy and any unnecessary energy spent healing injuries is a tremendous waste." Jaden reasoned.

Reece laughed viciously, "That may be what **you** feel, but what about your mate?" He was suddenly behind Abby, whispering in her ear sensually. "How about you, Abby? Up for a bit of a rumble?"

Abby shivered visibly, retreating into Jaden's embrace. _She was so fierce a moment ago… what could he have done or thought to cause her to do that?_

Almost instantaneously, Jaden and Abby disappeared, leaving a furious Reece behind to brood. He turned and punched a tree. The poor maple groaned and creaked, landing on the forest floor with a deafening thud. When the air had cleared, Damiana couldn't see the remaining vampire any longer. _Damnit! I lost him. Where the hell did he go?_

Slowly, Damiana peered around her tree again. Absolutely no sign of anything but a giant fallen maple and some crushed foliage. She stood, keeping all her senses aware for any signs of possible danger. When she was convinced the area was as secure as it would ever get, she wandered out from behind her tree. She headed towards the spot where the 3 vampires were mere moments earlier. As she'd expected, Damiana saw no signs or clues that there had even been anything there, other than the fallen tree.

She continued to venture a little further from her hiding spot, keeping ever vigilant. Any mistake or miscalculation could mean her life this close to a vampiric source. When all seemed clear in her immediate area and the interior of the camp, Damiana broke out into a sprint for the closest building: what seemed to be a supply house of sorts. _What they'd need from a supply house, I'll never know. They're damn leeches! They steal lives, what's stopping them from stealing other things?_

She burst through the door, shutting it quietly behind her, making sure she didn't brush against anything mistakenly. This was no time to leave any scents or aura traces behind in the open. When the door was securely closed and locked, she turned her attention to the contents of the giant room she'd stumbled upon. Giant was certainly the right word for it, seeing as one could fit a small one-story house inside. At first glance, there just seemed to be rows upon rows of shelves, containing various objects of various sizes. Damiana drifted towards the nearest shelf, allowing her eyes to stray around the room. When she reached the first group of shelving, realization hit her.

"Treasures," she breathed, not daring to speak above a whisper, "They're beautiful." The items on the shelf at eye-level were magnificent gold and silver necklaces of various styles, all sporting a giant gem or some sort. The one directly in front of her was a silver choker with a large oval of jade in the center with delicate silver workings around it, as if the jade were nestled in a bed of silver webbing. Damiana reached out her hand, wanting to feel the smooth surface of the glossy green stone. She just barely stopped herself, realizing what a stupid idea that would be.

_But it's so pretty and delicate… it wouldn't hurt to just touch it once. The leeches won't be able to see my fingerprints on it._ She argued with herself, the desire to touch that necklace nearly winning out. The portion of her brain still able to reason sent a sensation of dread through her, warning her that touching that wretched necklace could end in some less than desirable results. With every ounce of her willpower, Damiana pulled her gaze away and turned to the next shelving unit. This one had nearly a hundred rings on its 5 long shelves. As with the necklaces, each ring had some sort of precious stone set into the gold or silver of its band. Again, Damiana needed to force herself away from the glittering pieces of jewelry.

As she meandered through the storage facility, she saw everything from ornate furniture to intricately painted urns and pots to brilliant goblets and fragile glass and chinaware. Every item she saw seemed to come from a different period in time and different locations within those periods. One urn, she remembered, depicted a story resulting in a battle scene between an Egyptian man and a fierce monster with massive extending teeth dripping with some sort of liquid. Damiana could only assume it was a vampire. In fact, any pictures or depictions she'd seen so far contained some sort of vampire reference, albeit subtly sometimes. One picture, for example, illustrated a group of people in a marketplace from Medieval England. The only possible reference to anything vampiric was an abnormally beautiful young man with slightly paled skin and a mass of unruly jet black curls atop the crown of his head.

Damiana didn't notice the passage of time as she idled through the many rows of exquisite treasures in the storage building. When she had reached her last row in the very back of the building, she happened upon one of the few windows in the whole building. _Damnit! How long have I been in here? It's already pitch black outside! Shit, who knows when they'll begin to come back?!_

Damiana sprinted for the other end of the building, or at least tried to. She had to slow her pace to make sure she didn't accidentally touch any of the riches around her. Eventually, when she became too anxious of leaving a trace, she stopped completely. _Fuck! I have to take this slow, I'm afraid… if I do make it out of here on time, I can't risk leaving any sort of trace. The keeper of all this will definitely notice and seek me out to "chat" a bit about the things they'll assume I pilfered_. _I can't risk bringing these leeches anywhere _near_ my family's charges in town._

Unwillingly, Damiana slowed her pace down to a tentative walk through the narrow aisles. She hadn't noticed before how slim the passages were and how disorienting. It took all of her concentration to recall all the turns and curves she'd taken… in reverse.

She checked her watch. _Last I checked, it was 7:45. Shit… I've wasted almost 4 hours since the time I've arrived! And what have I found out? Two leeches "wuv" each other, another leech is daddy's little helper, and that yet another leech is a collector or priceless items! Oh, and some human out there thinks he can best these vamps in matters of cunning. I'm unbelievably grateful to Macht that I don't have to be the witch to that has to deal with that dunce._ Damiana moved just a bit faster, seeing as she'd wasted nearly all her time ogling instead of gathering at least one iota of information that would be beneficial to her.

Finally, she could see the walls of shelving thinning out and could just barely make out the outline of the exit. Rounding the last corner, Damiana stopped in horror. _Voices!_ Quickly, she evaluated her situation. _They pretty close to the exit… I can't risk going out there since I don't know for sure how many there could be. Their auras are most likely too strong by now to easily distinguish separate ones. Ugh! The wretched feel of those auras! I can barely focus!_

Damiana slowly backed away from the door, moving back into the maze of antiques. There was no other way out but through that one window she saw and right now, it seemed her only good chance. As her final decision, she turned on her heel and booked it to back through the shelving units, no longer caring whether she touched anything or not; survival took too much priority right now. Suddenly, Damiana stopped short. _The quiet… I could hear them only seconds before. Did they notice me already? Wouldn't I have heard a pursuit? Or even the door being forced open? Fucking hell, I can't concentrate with all those auras!_ That realization halted everything. _All those auras. How…? Are they all…? When did they find…? Shit, shit, shit! I have no _time_ for this!_

From the other end of the building, Damiana suddenly heard the sound of metal grating against concrete. _Damnit! Why in Macht's name do they have a lock on a door they could easily pry open anyway? How could I have been so stupid to not even realize that?_ Quickly followed by the door being forced off, Damiana heard a voice.

"Oh little witch, little witch? We know you're in here, delicious morsel. No need to hide because frankly, there is no way you could hide forever. Especially not in my father's camp. " Damiana heard the voice of Reece call out in a sickeningly sweet voice call out to her. "Really, my scrumptious treat… I know every nook and cranny in this whole camp. I helped build it myself. There's no place you could hide that I wouldn't find you at." Damiana couldn't hear his advance but she knew by instinct that he was.

"Who said I was aiming to hide?" Damiana remarked forcefully, continuing her frantic sprint through the aisles.

"Oh, I assumed the fact that you were storming past all these pieces of marvelous treasure and barely even pausing to admire them might mean you were in too much of a hurry. I deeply regret keeping you from your previous engagement, Miss Tracker, but I believe you should honor your host with a quick visit. We Marrons choose to show courtesy to those we visit." Reece called out again in a voice he obviously meant to be polite.

"Pardon my manners but I did promise myself that I'd live a few more decades." Damiana said, enjoying her snide remark.

Reece sighed, as if all this banter bored him. "That seems rather selfish. Please, it'd give my father and I great honor to have you as our dinner guest."

"If that weren't so cliché, I'd oblige you. But, I also plan on keeping my blood and not ingesting any more anytime soon." Damiana began looking around, hoping to find another way to exit. Her route to the door was blocked and the run to the window was too great. Plus, the window wasn't guaranteed to open at all. _Ah-hah! An air duct! Of course someone who knows his antiques would keep clean, cool air circulating through here. Why I didn't think of that previously, I'll never know._

Running over to the nearest group of shelving, Damiana began to climb. She pulled herself up onto the bureau in front of her. As quickly as she could, she scrambled to the top and began working on the grate. _Damnit, why won't it budge?_ She looked down, hoping to locate Reece's position. _Shit, 2 aisles away! That won't take him too long to get here, then._

In a fit of desperation, she cast a quick explosion spell. The grate blew right off, barely missing her and ricocheting off shelf she was precariously standing on. The unit wobbled, tottering back and forth dangerously. Damiana pushed off from the top and reached for the edges of the open vent. Her hands met metal and she clasped the edges firmly, pulling herself up into the black opening.

"Shit!" Damiana shouted, feeling the added weight of another body gripping her ankles. Her grip slipped slightly and the shelves leaned extremely far to one side. She kicked and wiggled and twisted her legs as much as she could but nothing could dislodge the attacker.

"There's no _way_ you're getting out of here that easily, witch!" Reece kept his iron grip on Damiana's ankles. "Maybe this will convince you otherwise." With that, Reece bit through her pajama pants and into Damiana's calf, allowing the warm blood to coat his tongue.

Damiana groaned with the combined pain of the bite, the abrupt loss of blood, and the screaming cramps coming from her triceps. It took so much strength not to cry out.

Finally, an idea hit her. Damiana began swinging her legs back and forth, building up her momentum. After a few swings, Reece was at the perfect height at the top of each swing. "I'd love to spend more time with you, Reece but…" Damiana paused, catching her breath, "I really must be going!" With her last word, Damiana kicked Reece right in the jugular right at the highest point of her swing. Reece let go with grunt and flew into the air. Before he landed on the nearest collection of precious objects, he disappeared from the building. _Why he didn't try that when he first realized my existence, I'll never know._

Damiana scurried into the hole of the vent, turning and crawling through the absolute blackness. The vent came to an abrupt end and she reached up, finding another grate and the view of starlight. No longer caring who knew her location, she used another explosion spell to blast this grate out. She hauled herself onto the roof and began running towards the nearest edge.

"Umph!"

* * *

Author's Note: Another chapter **and** ahead of schedule! Thank goodness for snow days.

Our heroine can't seem to help but go from one incident to another, can she?I pray I never have her luck! And what a nasty cliffhanger. Who said umph? What happened to Reece? What will happen to that poor maple tree? All of that and possibly a fight scene in the next chapter! Now a word from our sponsors.

Remember, reviews are always helpful. Any comments/concerns/grammatical errors/pieces of info/general discussion of plot are welcome! My characters thank you and I thank you. Have a nice few days!


	5. Guest

**5. Guest**

_She was running through the forest, a different one from the one surrounding the camp. There was something urgent that needed to be done, but she couldn't put her finger on it. All she knew was that running meant life and staying alive. Skirting her way around trees, jumping over tangled roots and underbrush. She felt near collapse but physical limitations were something that she couldn't take into account; there were more desperate matters at hand. Abruptly, the dense woods ended with a large, circular clearing. She stopped right there, the feeling of urgency replaced with a feeling of completion and awe. Her eyes raked the edges of the wide space, finally settling on the opposite end. There was slight movement coming through the low hanging branches. After a few moments' pause, the curtain of foliage parted and recognition hit her._

"_Daniel?" she whispered, confused._

"_Damiana, what are you doing here?" He crossed the space quickly, coming to rest in front of Damiana, unusually close._

"_What are __**you**__ doing here, Daniel?! It's not safe!" Damiana gripped his forearms, pleading with him with her eyes._

"_Being in your dreams and thoughts is unsafe? That's not saying much about your mental health." Daniel laughed, obviously not realizing the impatience and anxiousness radiating off Damiana's body. He pulled his arms from her grasp, patting her playfully on her head._

_She slapped his hand away. "Daniel! Listen to me! Please, something bad is going to happen or coming or whatever! It's not safe for you here!" She so desperately wanted to turn him around and push him away, remembering the dangerous rush she'd had mere seconds ago._

_Daniel moved a bit closer, their bodies nearly touching. Damiana felt her heartbeat speed up; she wasn't used to being this close to another living person, let alone a human she liked. "Dami… it's safe here. You'll be just fine here with just me."_

_Damiana couldn't stop herself. Instinctively, she pushed up onto her toes and pressed her lips gently to his. It was a quick kiss but it felt sweet, yet fiery; a kiss that of two people who deeply love each other but keep respect and politeness in the forefronts of their minds. Before she knew it, Daniel pulled himself away slowly, a sly grin brightening his face. She felt dizzy and light, the kiss having lasted too short for her liking. She looked up at his face, euphoria obvious on hers._

_Daniel had a smile from ear to ear now, looking at her as if to say, 'What took you so long?' Damiana returned the smile, still not completely in the moment._

_Damiana sighed. "We really should be going now…" What she suggested was more of a feeble afterthought instead of a forceful command._

"_Oh Dami," Daniel replied, "come __**on**__. It's fine here!" He wrapped his hand around hers, pulling her over to the clearing's center. Without relinquishing his hand, he lowered himself to the ground and lay back. The sun made him look amazing and unreal. He let out a contented sign. Rolling onto his side, he finally released her hand. "Damiana… why did you forget what you promised to me and Mr. Sillen?"_

"_What did I promise you, Daniel? I would never break any promise I've made to you!" Damiana was confused; she didn't remember promising anything to anyone recently, other than her mother. Or having broken any promises, except, again, to her mother. She didn't know anyone in school well enough to really promise them anything._

"_To help me out, Dami. On the first day, you promised you'd help me find my classes and locker. You never came through, though." Daniel rolled onto his back again, a look of hurt in his eyes and painted on his features. "I was looking forward to it, you know. I really wanted to get to know you better."_

"_Why me, though? I'm hardly interesting and I know you've seen the way guys and other people look at me. I'm not their top choice for a best friend." Damiana was babbling, looking at her hands clasped together in her lap._

"'_Cause I know what you really are, Dami. No one else does but I figured it all out." Daniel said lazily, as if whatever he had found out was of very little interest to him._

"_You know what I am? What on Earth are you talking about?" She didn't know if Daniel really truly knew or just thought he did. Nonetheless, she worked her hardest to hide any sort of reaction to what was coming next._

"_Heh, you'd probably think I was crazy if I told you. Besides, there are more important things to talk about right now." Daniel reached out and grabbed her hand again, squeezing it gently in his unusually soft hands. "It did hurt, Dami… you completely forgot about your promise. That part wasn't so bad and I would've put it behind me easier had you offered an apology. But you didn't. You ignored me almost totally. __**That's**__ what hurt me, Dami. It felt like you were leading me on, like what the old toys kids no longer play with must feel; 'You were fun for a few games but now I'm bored so I'll just forget you completely.'"_

"_Daniel…" Damiana began gently, pleading him to understand her point of view, "I thought that I had daydreamed up everything that had happened in that class. My head was in the clouds most of that class; you saw that. Everyone did. I guess my imagination ran rampant, leading me to think I was making up things I wanted terribly to happen. Normally, I don't act that way towards anyone. Please, Daniel… I'm sorry. Forgive me. Please."_

_Daniel gave her a thoughtful look then closed his eyes. "Let me think about it, Dami. I'll tell you whether I've forgiven you or not when I'm ready." He fell silent._

_Damiana sat there, regarding Daniel longingly; all thoughts of what she saw told her this couldn't be a dream. It was too vivid. She grudgingly pulled her gaze away and took a better look at the clearing._

_It wasn't as big as it had seemed at first glance. It was maybe about 15 feet from one side to another. It was relatively sunny, some places partially shaded by branches hanging out into the open space above the clearing. The only place in truly direct sunlight was the center where they were positioned. The grass wasn't grass, as she initially thought; it was a thick layer of springy moss. It was soft and nice, slightly warmed by the sun's rays. There weren't any flowers, sadly, just a few rocks and a boulder not far from one side of dense overgrowth. There were a few bugs, not many, that could be heard buzzing not far off. They seemed to be buzzing and zipping around to their own music, spinning and jumping through the air like tiny acrobats. She could also hear a soft, relaxing bubbling and babbling of what she assumed was a stream somewhere in the thick trees. It was pleasant here; a nice place to relax and just be. Nothing complicated or harmful._

_Damiana eyed Daniel once again, only to find he was staring at her, a look of interest on his face. "What?" She asked, laughing a bit._

"_You looked as if you were worried. Why is that?"_

"_Oh… just thinking about how this probably isn't real and all. I'm honestly wishing it was, is all." Damiana replied, disappointment evident in her voice._

"_Doesn't mean it couldn't be someday, someplace." He clasped her hand reassuringly. "There's nothing stopping you from making this happen somehow."_

"_Oh, you know, except for the fact that the real Daniel hates the sight of me. And the little, minute detail of my family's intense dislike, no, __**hatred**__, of any relationship between a human and myself. Oh, but otherwise, we'd have the perfect fairytale relationship." She finished sarcastically._

_Daniel sat up suddenly, draping his arms around Damiana's waist and leaned his immaculate face towards hers. He kissed her softly again, allowing his lips to linger just a few seconds longer than the last time. But even with the additional time, when Daniel withdrew his lips, Damiana felt that it hadn't last nearly as long as she'd wanted it to. It was like a drug: she'd had some and now some was hardly enough for her._

_Then, the atmosphere changed. The urgency and danger from earlier resurfaced in Damiana. She looked at Daniel, horrified. Finally, he seemed to recognize the danger in the air. They both jumped to their feet, backs against each other's. They circled around; making sure every angle was checked._

"_Damnit, Dami… are danger and anxiousness always this prevalent in your thoughts?" Daniel chanced a quiet look over his shoulder at her. "I can't imagine how you constantly deal with this. I'm glad I just barely started occupying it."_

_Damiana nearly replied with a mocking remark before they came. The sickening aura hit her before the 6 or 7 vampires surged into the clearing, surrounding Daniel and Damiana. The leeches would lean in, snapping their jaws at any limb sticking too far out._

"_Ugh, you guys just don't give __**up**__ do you? First you bother the shit out of me in real life and now you persist to barge into my dreams! Is my mental state safe from nothing?" Damiana taunted the vampires, hoping to take her agitation out on someone._

_One of the vampires hissed viciously. "Just give up, little witch! There's no way you and that walking blood donor are going to escape from this!"_

"_Witch? I knew it! I knew that I knew what you were!" Daniel stopped abruptly, turning on his heel to look Damiana in her eye._

"_Daniel! What in Macht's name are you doing?! You're turning your back on a __**leech**__! They'll kill you on the spot!"_

_Before Daniel gave an answer, the vampires surrounding them began chanting quietly, "Witch, witch, witch. Give it up, little witch. Witch, witch, witch. Give it up little witch."_

_The vampires began circling them now, keeping their haunting chant going. Daniel just stood there, staring at her blankly. The nearest vampire launched herself at Damiana when she wasn't paying attention. She fell backwards, waiting for her body to make impact with the ground._

* * *

"Little witch, get up. We're waiting for you. We know you're awake." Damiana's eyes were still closed but she could sense the vampire currently mocking her was immensely close to her face. She felt the urge to reach out and slap the leech across her hideously pale face, but her arms were bound behind her back.

_Great… they're taunting me and I can't do a damn thing to pay them back for it._ She willed her lids to open and gave a venomous glare at the leech directly above her. It was one she hadn't seen yet. Her hair was long, bleach blonde, and washboard straight. Her locks were dangling all around her head and Damiana's as she bent over the tied up witch.

Damiana wriggled a little, hoping to get the leech away from her. When this didn't work, Damiana spit right into the vampire's face.

She recoiled, yelling, "Ugh! Damnit! That little shit just **spit** in my face! Reece! Why are you keeping her alive?! I just want to kill her already!" The vampire spun around, looking for Reece.

_Shit, Reece is here, too? Fan-fucking-tastic._ Damiana kept wriggling to get a better view of her surroundings, coming to no avail. Suddenly, Reece came into view, directly followed by the infuriated female. Her lips were pulled back into a vicious grimace.

"Ah, our little guest is awake now, is she?" Reece asked the female. She gave him a curt nod. He addressed Damiana now, "So love, I suppose you're going to have to stay and be our guest now, aren't you? I have to say, I was desperately hoping you'd stay for a little while with us. Today is a very important day. But, I'll just allow my father to tell you the rest." He pressed his palm to Damiana's cheek. She jerked away immediately. "Oh, come now, love. We won't hurt you. Although, I can't promise our other guests won't."

Reece gave her a wicked smile as he stood. He extended his arm out to the female vampire and she nestled into him. They left the room with his arm around her waist. Damiana could hear someone snap their fingers. Once Reece and his companion had cleared the doorway, a very large, bouncer-looking leech filled it again. With two strides, he crossed to where Damiana sat and flung her body over his shoulder, carrying her like a sack. The only thing she could see now was the back view of the enormous vampire carrying her.

"Where the hell are you taking me?" Damiana asked, her voice strained by the rock hard shoulder pushing into her abdomen. The big lug didn't give an answer. She tried again, "Hey, you big dumb brute, where are you taking me to that I can't walk to by myself?"

Her carrier gave her a grumble in response. Damiana couldn't make out anything he said.

"I guess the brains are completely nonexistent in your gigantic muscle-headed body." She was being daring, taking out all her frustration with herself on others. She kicked the vampire carrying her in the only thing her legs would reach: what she guessed was his ribs. It wasn't a kick that could break anything, since her legs were being held down, but it was something he was likely to be able to feel for a little while.

The leech stopped, doing nothing for a few moments. Then, he tightened his grip on Damiana's knees and continued on.

Damiana had no choice now but to wait this short ride out. She didn't think these vampires would kill her yet; they wanted her for something. For what, though, she wasn't sure about. She continued to focus on the grass below her, watching as it moved gradually under the feet of her carrier. _I wonder what Reece meant by visitors. I don't think it'd be any humans… I doubt these vampires have much self-control in their own camp. More vampires? Nah, this cluster seems too territorial. I doubt they'd be as calm as Reece if it were another cluster, unless they're guaranteed a win. Smaller cluster, perhaps._

As Damiana watched the ground, the grass changed into worn down dirt and then to beautiful onyx-colored marble. There wasn't much else of the room they'd just entered she could see. Although, she could sense numerous vampiric auras; one of which was significantly more powerful than the others around it.

The giant vampire swung Damiana back over his shoulder and put her on the ground roughly, turning her to face a large, ornately carved wooden chair. It was a sleek mahogany one, similar to a large throne that would be used by a medieval duke or baron. The cushions on it were large and a deep maroon. Then, her eyes came to rest on the figure positioned regally on the throne.

His features were similar to Reece's, his hair just a few shades darker than his. He looked like a slightly more aged version of the infuriatingly polite vampire Damiana had come to dislike. _This must be Reece's father. I should've guessed from the conversation I overheard yesterday._

Reece's father looked down upon Damiana, looking her over as if she were a show-dog. She glared back at him confidently. "Ah, son… your description of how beautiful she was did her no justice." He stood, reaching a hand out to Damiana. "I am Terrell Marron, leader of this cluster." Damiana just continued to glare at him furiously.

He looked at her curiously and realization hit him. Terrell turned his gaze to the enormous being that had carried Damiana in. The giant stepped forward and untied Damiana's hands and feet. She flexed her hands and rolled her ankles, driving out the stiffness of being bound.

"There. That is no way to treat a guest to our community, Alabastor," Terrell reprimanded the big lug behind Damiana. Once again, he stood and extended a hand out to her. She felt every muscle in her body tighten. _I can't touch him… I won't. But if I don't, would they be more willing to kill me? I might as well cooperate so I have more of a chance of escape later. I cannot take this whole cluster on my own._ Reluctantly and grimly, Damiana placed her hand in his and shook. The touch sent goose bumps scurrying up her arms. Terrell released her hand and flashed Damiana a polite smile. He continued on, "For this to be a proper introduction, I would enjoy to know your name in return."

Damiana thought quickly, not wishing to disclose her real name. _I can't use a name that isn't a witch one, since they know what I am already. I can't assume that they know I'm an Arun, though. I believe I can successfully fake that._ She put a contemplating look on her features and answered after a few minutes worth of fake decision, "Damiana Vida. It's very… _pleasant_ to make your acquaintance." She said in forced politeness.

Terrell seemed to see her introduction fit and, with a large smile, began talking again, "Likewise. Please, come take a seat. I was hoping you'd tell me more about yourself over a bit of breakfast."

Damiana stood but made no move towards the chair she was offered. She continued to look right at Terrell, planting her feet where they were. She refused firmly, "Sorry, I must decline. I have a previous engagement made and I best be heading there as soon as possible."

Without warning, Reece was beside her, his arm snaking around her waist. Damiana jerked from his touch and stared at him, her eyes full of disgust. "Oh Damiana, love, you must stay for father's breakfast offer. I'm sure your other engagement can wait." He stepped closer to her, a huge grin on his face. Damiana wasn't going to be won over so easily.

"I'm sorry, Terrell. Reece." She nodded to both in turn. "But I must turn down your offer. I'm not very hungry right now."

"Oh, but my father _insists_. Please, do us the honor of **staying**." Reece was behind her again in an instant, his face extremely close to her neck. He whispered into her skin, "I would so _enjoy_ having you stay just a bit longer." His hand slid down her hips and came to rest on the waist of her jeans. Damiana couldn't suppress a shiver, the hate building to such a great amount that it caused a physical reaction.

Damiana tried to push herself out of his grasp but his grip was tight on her, not allowing her to move away. The close proximity of the disgusting aura was making her nauseous. She needed to get out of there this instant. She could feel Reece bend his head closer and press his lips to her neck. It took all her self-control not to cry out in rage.

Thankfully, the door to the building flew open and a rather frazzled looking Abby burst in. She ran right up to Terrell and curtsied to him hastily. When she straightened out, her story burst from her lips, "Terrell! They're here! They're here before schedule! Marissa and I could feel their auras! They're coming quick, we must get ready for the-"

Reece immediately pulled away from Damiana and ran to his father's side, whispering in his ear. Terrell nodded and gave a handsome grin to Abby. "Thank you, Abigail. You did well."

Abby turned and ran out the door again in a flurry of white skirt and mahogany hair. In an instant, the room turned into a great blur, leeches running around in all directions. Reece and his bleach blonde friend were moving about, giving orders to anyone they made eye contact with. Damiana used the momentary confusion to her advantage and sneaked out the open door. The camp was filled with nearly as much activity. Blurs of pale skin were moving about everywhere, locking doors or moving objects out of the way. No one seemed to notice her at all.

Damiana ran over to the edge of the large clearing of the camp. As she ran, she looked for the large space where Reece had knocked the maple tree over the previous day. She saw it, nearly directly across the camp. _Shit… I don't have enough time to get across the space by skirting the outside. The new group of vampires will be here before I even get halfway. I can't really run straight across either because I'll have the added risk of someone seeing me._ She considered this as she continued to run; deciding that skirting the outside was the lesser of two evils.

She pushed herself into a sprint, hoping to reach the tree before the open space was thrown into utter chaos. She was a few yards from the injured maple when she was knocked onto her left side by an assailant from the forest. Without hesitation, Damiana withdrew her daggers and shoved them into the flesh of the being on top of her. The leech let out an earsplitting shriek and rolled off of her. Damiana jumped to her feet and straddled the leech, driving her magic-enchanted dagger straight into its heart. The leech let out a wet, gurgling scream and went limp. Damiana scurried to back onto her feet, not bothering to sheath her daggers.

She continued her run, keeping her eyes on the shadows of the forest to her right. She couldn't chance another attack like that; there wasn't any guarantee she'd be so lucky the next time. She lunged forward, leaving a long gash across the stomach of a female leech coming out of the trees. She, too, shrieked. The male vampire behind her skirted around and went for Damiana, nearly grabbing her upper arm in his hands. Damiana reacted quickly and dug her left dagger into his wrist, twisting as she did so. Blood surged out and the vampire snarled furiously, nursing his injured wrist. The female had recovered and grabbed Damiana by her shoulder and tossed her like she were only a wet towel to be discarded. Damiana flew and slammed into a nearby tree, feeling something shift slightly; the impact leaving her winded. She struggled to get her breath back.

The female surged forward and Damiana reached into her mind. _I'll go for her stomach and then, when she's fallen to her knees, I'll go for her neck._ Damiana could hear the female leech plotting in her head. An instant before the fist made contact with Damiana's stomach, she dodged to her left. She heard a deafening crack as the force of the punch shook and broke the tree. Splinters flew out in all directions as the second maple tree in the area barreled to the ground. The vampire hissed and spun around, only to meet Damiana's dagger in the heart. Crimson blood flowed around the dagger as Damiana dragged it down the leech's torso.

Damiana whirled around when she heard the screech of the male she'd left injured. Before her, she saw Reece kneeling over the other leech, driving his fangs into the other's shoulder. The horrible noises continued as Reece wrenched his head to the side, pulling the other male's arm clear off. Blood gushed from the wound as the decapitated assailant wriggled and twisted in obvious pain. Within a few seconds, the movement ceased and the area was uncharacteristically calm for a battle setting, neither victor willing to give away their plans or thoughts of attack. Damiana could hear the snarls and hisses coming from the fights raging in the camp's center.

Reece rose from his crouch and focused his eyes on Damiana. She was finding it hard to breathe, splitting pain erupting from her back whenever she breathed in too deeply. Barely a second later, Reece was behind her, pinning her arm painfully behind her. She could hear an audible snap as his iron grip broke one of the bones in her wrist. Damiana inhaled and exhaled erratically, trying to fight off the pain. She tried to move around and drive her dagger into his heart but the pain and position of her arm made it impossible. Instead, she gripped the hilt of her blade tighter and thrust it into Reece's leg, pulling it upwards towards his waist. He hissed angrily and released her arm.

Without a moment's notice, Damiana took off, hoping the damage she'd inflicted would keep him busy long enough for her to escape into the wooded area. The pain was unbearable but focusing on physical limitations wasn't going to get her anywhere right now. Forcing the pain into the recesses of her mind, Damiana drove herself onward. She made it to the first fallen maple and leaped over it in one stride, clearing its height easily. She glanced quickly at the sun's position and located which way was North. When she'd found the proper direction, she took off once more.

* * *

Damiana didn't stop until she saw signs of civilization around her. She was on the outskirts of her town, near a few of the old saw mills that had long since been closed. She somehow managed to hop the fence of one such mill and sprint into the building without being seen by a driver in passing. She stopped to press the uninjured part of her back against the chilled concrete, hoping to cool the heat building up in her body from pain, overexertion, and sheer anger. Every muscle burned and protested with every unnecessary movement, which really meant any movement she made whatsoever.

She breathed slowly, trying to force herself to calm down. After 10 minutes' pause, she pushed herself to her feet unsteadily. Her muscles tightened at the thought of a long walk home, knowing full well she had neither the energy or will to run anywhere. Damiana treaded out past the mill's incapacitated metal doors and up to the fence surrounding the property. The climb back over was slow and painful, but there was no choice in the matter; it was an absolutely necessary obstacle.

Her mind was numb and empty as she slowly made her way towards the asphalt of the road. Exhaustion was slowly taking over and Damiana collapsed into the sand and dirt, not even attempting to waste the energy needed to struggle to her feet. The sound of her haggard breathing stopped her from hearing the approach of a car on the near-deserted stretch of pavement. The Bentley glided onto the grass and sand on the shoulder. The driver cut the engine and stepped out, running to kneel beside Damiana's exhausted form. He rushed back to his car and opened the back door to put her in. He returned to scoop up Damiana's body and place her gently onto the supple leather of the car's interior. Damiana momentarily opened her eyes to see who had so graciously aided her.

"D-D-Daniel?" She somehow managed to murmur softly. Her eyes went wide, the exhaustion subsiding quickly to be replaced with confusion and thankfulness.

He placed a finger gently over her mouth to silence her, "Shh, it's alright. I'll get you taken care of, Damiana. You'll be fine." He withdrew from the door and closed it. He opened his own door and closed it behind him as he slid into the driver's seat. He turned the key and the engine purred back to life. He pulled back onto the road. Damiana could feel the car speed up smoothly.

"I didn't peg you for the Bentley type, you know. Or to be the knight in shining armor, either." She said, smiling weakly at her own jibe.

Daniel just answered with a snort, staying focused on the road. Damiana could feel the car accelerate just a little bit more.

"Daniel… are you sure you should be going this fast?" She attempted to get up onto her elbows but she moaned as the pain of yet another broken rib came crashing into her. She slumped back down onto the leather, inhaling its scent to keep from crying out.

"Just stay still and relax, Damiana, please. You'll just make things worse for yourself when it comes time to set your wrist. It won't heal properly if you keep trying to use it." Daniel snapped, his voice sounding nearly as exhausted and on edge as hers.

It was Damiana's turn to snort, "Please, I've had worse injuries than a broken wrist and one broken rib, trust me."

"Would you prefer I stop this car and put you back onto the side of the road where I found you?" Daniel answered angrily, his nerves near snapping. When Damiana didn't answer, he plowed forward, "I think you'd have enough decency to just accept help from me without you making sarcastic remarks and acting the martyr. I don't even have to help you. Maybe I would've been better off just leaving you there instead of you giving me shit for actually helping!"

Damiana could see his hands tighten around the steering wheel, turning his knuckles white. "I-I… I'm sorry, Daniel. I should be more grateful. You didn't have to help me and I know that." She paused, taking a steadying breath. She rushed on, her apology coming out all at once, "And I'm sorry I ignored you! And that I forgot to help you! And that I acted like a complete bitch and flirted with you when I knew I shouldn't have! I just kept thinking that I daydreamed that up, that I really wanted to have the guts to actually be able to say that to you without worrying about whether or not you'd think I was overly desperate or needy. And I'm sorry Mrs. Rivera made us partners… and I'm sorry I couldn't have been a better person towards you. And… I'm sorry this couldn't have turned out way better than it did." Damiana felt drained now, first pouring out all her energy into survival and then pouring out all her feelings into a friendship.

Daniel didn't make a sound, making Damiana wonder if he understood a word she'd said. "And..." She continued on, "I'm sorry that you don't like me and that we might not be able to be friends because of my stupidity."

"Who said I didn't like you? Or that I didn't want to be friends?"

Damiana was taken aback, "What?"

"Damiana, I never said I **didn't** like you, ever. Why did you start thinking that?"

"Oh, I don't know… maybe when you fiercely argued with Mrs. Rivera about not wanting me as a partner?" She answered sarcastically, feeling despair surface. Right now, crying didn't seem too bad of an idea.

"Shit," Daniel ran his hand through his hair quickly then focused back on the road, "I was being stubborn. Although, that's no excuse to treat someone as bad as I'd treated you. Can you forgive me for that, Dami? Please?"

Damiana was shocked into silence, so much so that she didn't notice the car come to a stop and the engine get cut. When the words finally came, Daniel was at her door, reaching in to get her, "The plaintiff shouldn't apologize to the accused, Daniel."

An idea suddenly came to his head, "Well, this plaintiff feels like he should. I accept your apology and drop my case. Now please, can you extend to me the same kindness?" Daniel looked into her eyes pleadingly, reaching his hand out to scoop her back into his arms. Her pulled her out and used his foot to kick the rear door shut.

Damiana couldn't keep her cool façade going any longer. She buried her face into Daniel's t-shirt, shakily breathed in his clean smell, and allowed the hot tears to flow freely from her eyes. It was the first time in a long while she'd given in to the overwhelming need to crying

* * *

  
Author's Note: Ah... feels good to be done with that chapter. Well, I think relief is the better term. It was a hard chapter to write, in my opinion.

So, Daniel and Damiana's friendship is on the mend, now. Three cheers for them! Looking forward to some fairer weather for them now, thank gooodness. Not that they're just going to fall right into a relationship this instant but that doesn't mean it won't **ever** I doubt next chapter will be as dramatic as this one. No heartfelt declarations or earthshattering revelations, sadly.

Next chapter: bandages, pain, and some blatantly obvious lies! And to be honest, I'm beginning to like Reece myself. Gotta love the villian sometimes. ;D  
**Reviews are fantastic to get!** They make writing more urgent and can give me some very nice ideas for plot developments. So please, I do really want your two-cents on my writing!


	6. Trusting

**6. Trusting**

Daniel placed her carefully on the perfectly white couch in his living room. Even through her crying bout, Damiana questioned his decision.

"Daniel," she sniffed quietly, the tears beginning to slow, "don't place me on the couch. I'll stain it and your mother would hate me or even you."

Daniel laughed at her caution, "There's nothing a little bleach won't fix. Besides, my parents won't be home for a few more days. You're welcome to stay here." Damiana opened her mouth to object but Daniel beat her to it, "I know there's more to you being out in the woods alone, injured, exhausted, and pretty far from your own home. I won't ask what you were doing, but I have a feeling your mom might not be the happiest with your decision to do it…"

"Damnit! I should call her!" Damiana went to stand but the pain from her rib forced her back down. Her face was contorted into a pained grimace.

"I suppose that's what your body thinks of **that** idea. Please, Dami. Just be the child that's hurt for a while and let me take care of your injuries." Daniel rose to his feet from his seat on the couch and made his way towards the kitchen. After a few minutes, he returned with a large medical bag, like that belonging to a doctor.

Damiana eyed the bag skeptically. She watched Daniel place it on the perfectly white carpet that matched the couch and almost every other surface in the room. "Daniel, are you sure you know what you're doing?" She allowed the anxiousness she felt to make itself known in her voice.

"My mother's a nurse. She's shown me how to set bones and treat burns or cuts. You have to trust me on this one." He flashed a reassuring smile at her as he unzipped the bag. He pulled out a splint, gauze, bandages, medical tape, and some aspirin.

At the sight of the little white medicine bottle, Damiana laughed bitterly, "Daniel, I know you won't believe me but… aspirin never really did much for my pain." He looked up from his work and stared into her eyes, as if he hoped to find some way to tell if she was telling the truth or just playing the hero. When he was satisfied with her explanation, he nodded once and went back to his work. He was meticulously clean; making sure anything that would touch her skin directly never touched the carpet or his body. When the task got more difficult with the gauze, he pulled out a pair of latex gloves from a side compartment of the bag and pulled them onto his hands.

Once his supplies were prepared to his liking, he got onto his knees from his sitting position and waddled over to Damiana's side. He looked her in the eyes and murmured calmly, "If it hurts too much at any point, any point at all, tell me and I'll stop for a little bit. If you need it, that is." As he spoke, he carefully rolled the sleeve of her left hand up to her elbow, being cautious not to jostle her wrist too much. To Damiana's surprise, there was no added pain from his touch of the area around her wrist. Next, without lifting her hand, he slipped a splint under her wrist. Daniel stopped and looked to Damiana's face once more. "Dami, you probably already know this but this is going to hurt quite a bit. I need to make sure your bone is positioned in the right place."

Damiana clenched her other hand into a fist, gathering a corner of the couch cushion into her hand. She nodded curtly and leaned her head back onto the arm of the couch, closing her eyes. She felt Daniel's comfortably warm fingers in her palm as he prepared to lift her wrist. She felt the pain surge up her arm, burning and screaming at her nerves as it went. The urge to scream at the sudden pain was hard to suppress but she managed. _The bad news is that he hasn't even checked if its set properly let._ With that thought, Daniel touched her wrist directly, causing the white heat of pain to assault her senses again. It was nearly twice as intense and painful as the last touch.

Daniel worked quickly, seeing his friend twist a bit in silent pain. He wanted to check it as swiftly as was safe and have her write set so that his friend may no longer be in pain. His expert fingers tenderly probed up and down the line of the broken bone. From what he could feel, it was slightly off; only very slightly. With the precision of a trained doctor, Daniel repositioned the bone, causing Damiana to whimper with stifled pain.

"Alright, Dami, I think it's safe to set it now." He murmured soothingly. Not expecting any answer, he put her wrist back down on the splint. He removed his fingers and slipped a rolled up piece of gauze under her palm. Damiana whimpered again with the movement. Daniel grabbed the gauze he'd picked out of the bag and wrapped several layers around and around her wrist, creating a small bit of soft pillowing. He placed another splint atop the cushion, creating more support for her wrist. He cut two shorter pieces of gauze and wrapped one just below her wrist and another just above, tying both on the top of her arm. "This is only temporary until I can get some plaster ready to actually set it in a cast."

Next, he attended to the long gash on her other arm. He took a spray bottle from the bag and gently sprayed the cut, then dabbed it with a piece of gauze padding to clean it out. He took another clean bit of gauze padding, long enough to cover the whole cut, and placed it on. He pressed it lightly, and then grabbed some gauze to wrap around it. When he came to the end, he pulled out an ACE bandage and began wrapping that around. Once the bandage had reached its end, he placed the two metal clips on it to secure it.

Daniel allowed his gaze to wander down to Damiana, her eyes squeezed closed and her face pink from the exertion of forced calm. He wondered when the pain would get to be too much for her to handle and she'd either scream or pass out. When he began to lift her up to check on her rib, though, he was sure she'd passed out.

* * *

Damiana awoke groggily, confused as to where she was. When her eyes had adjusted to the dim light, she could just make out the edges of a bed. From the small amount of light available, she could see the walls of the bedroom were covered in posters of baseball stars and awards for achievement in school and participation in sports. Every diploma or certificate read _Daniel Ronan_ on the award recipient line. Her line of vision drifted to the window. There were black out curtains filtering out nearly all the light, making it impossible to tell the time by way of the sun's position. _There has to be a bedside clock or something._ She thought, turning her head to investigate either side of the bed. There on her right in glowing red numbers, was the time. _3:04 pm?! I slept all through yesterday __**and**__ today?! Ugh, I need to call mom immediately._

Cautiously, as if to test her own tolerance for pain, Damiana turned her torso in either direction. _Ah…. The rib is nearly healed. Must not have been a break, then._ Next, she attempted to wiggle her left wrist. She found that it wouldn't budge; there was something in the way. She strained her eyes against the dim light, only to find a white plaster cast covering her wrist and part of her forearm. _Oh, he cast it for me while I was asleep. I'll be sure to thank him for that tonight._

Slowly now, Damiana swung her legs off the bed's edge, stopping every few seconds to feel for any pain or unusual movement of her bones. There was none to speak of, other than the slight pain of muscle stiffness. She scooted towards the edge until her feet met the carpet. She stopped, allowing her toes to wriggle and enjoy the soft fibers of it on her skin. Damiana eased herself off the bed and stretched. _Mmm… this feels nice. Everything seems to be working alright._

When she was upright, she began inspecting her body. Her feet and calves were wrapped in gauze, small spots of dried blood scattered on it. Her left hand was in a cast and her right hand seemed unblemished, except for the gauze wrapped around her upper arm. There was a very faint line of dried blood here, too. Continuing her inventory, Damiana stopped when she lifted her shirt and came upon the bandaging on her entire torso. It was splattered with bits of dried blood from numerous scratches she'd gotten from the fight and the fleeing through the trees.

_The hell?! He couldn't have done this without seeing…_ She stopped, considering what Daniel must have seen of her. Unwittingly, she crossed her arms over her chest. She suddenly felt self-conscious and embarrassed, as if Daniel were in the room this instant, staring at her bare upper body. She kept imaging Daniel pointing and laughing at how unattractive she looked with her numerous scars crisscrossing her torso. Or maybe he'd even find her ugly and be disgusted by her. She shivered with the thought. _I was just on the mends with him… how could I be so weak and pass out so he could inspect me like that?!_

Damiana began walking towards the outline of a door, her mind not completely in the moment. Her feet were shuffling, not wanting to confront her immanent humiliation when faced with Daniel's reaction to her. With her mind preoccupied and the lack of light, she didn't notice the small filing cabinet along the wall she was leaning on. Her feet connected with the cool metal; she tripped and fell, bringing the cabinet to the ground with her. The soft carpet cushioned her fall and evoked no further pain. Damiana regained her composure and got to her knees, only to find files and papers scattered everywhere in front of her from the overturned cabinet.

"Shit." She breathed, beginning to arrange bunches of paper and folders into piles. She returned to its proper position and opened the bottommost drawer. She grabbed the nearest pile and dropped it in, going for sped rather than order. She reached for another pile when something on the previous pile caught her eye: a name and a picture that she knew. The curiosity got the better of her and she retrieved the file from the stack.

"'Reece Marron'…" Damiana whispered, feeling her grip tighten on the manila folder in her hands. It took all her will not to rip the folder in half. She threw the file back into the open drawer and shoved it closed, simultaneously opening the next one up. She pulled the next pile in front of her and worked to make it neat enough to fit into the open space of the cabinet. When she was satisfied, she pushed the bunch in and closed the door. The remaining files were pulled together into one last pile. Again, Damiana found her eyes were wandering to one of the folders that looked more recent than the others she'd seen. On the outside, it had a picture of a leech clipped there with a paperclip. The leech looked familiar, like she might've once been someone Damiana had known or met.

With her curiosity piqued, she opened the folder and began reading the file to herself aloud, "Sarah Vida! How could a Vida witch **ever** be a leech?! How could any witch whatsoever even stand it?" Through her disgust, she read on, thinking about how this Vida could even allow herself to be turned into a leech or even live a life as one. "'She was pretending to be a high school student. She met two leeches and…' Did I read that right? She 'befriended them'?! She made friends with a leech! No… two leeches! And I thought I was bad for loving a human." She rummaged through the papers containing all these details about Sarah, looking for any picture from her times as a witch. Finally, clipped on to the back flap of the folder was a more natural looking Sarah. "Holy... cow… I can't believe that I kno-"

"What the hell are you doing?!" Daniel yelled from the door, turning on the ceiling light. He bounded over to her, ripped the folder form her hands, and shoved it into the topmost shelf of the cabinet. He gathered up the last few and dropped them in, too, slamming the drawer closed. He turned to Damiana and gave her a murderous look. "How **dare** you touch **anything **in my room that doesn't belong to you! Especially my personal files!"

"Daniel, I didn't mean-"

"No, you **did** mean. I knew I couldn't trust you, Dami, because the moment I do, you use that trust against me and violate my privacy!" Daniel yelled, his eyes filled with anger and hate.

"But Daniel… you're not listening! At least let me explai-"

"Why should I? I know what I saw. I saw you sitting on my floor, taking files out of my cabinet and looking at them! Without my permission, no less!" He paused, as if waiting for her to challenge his own sight.

"I know, I know… I know what it looked like, but you need to listen, please!" Damiana took a step toward him, expecting him to step back. Daniel held his ground. Damiana dared another step towards him, until she was directly in front of his face. "Your room was dark, almost no light to speak of. I was getting up to walk downstairs and call my mother. I leaned on the wall to make sure I didn't fall over anything but I guess that plan backfired. My foot got caught on the cabinet and I tripped and the cabinet fell down with me. And the carpet muffled things. And please don't be angry, please. I am **honestly** telling you the truth, Daniel; please believe me."

Daniel was quietly studying Damiana's face again, as if staring hard enough would reveal her very soul to him. He turned his head away and sighed, his face tired. "Dami… I want to believe you, I really do. But it's hard right now. Yesterday, I was angry at you for ignoring me and breaking a promise. I forgave you and thought all was good. Then today, I find you going through my personal info. I hope this isn't a pattern of some sort."

"What? I show you my weaker side: crying, whimpering, low tolerance for pain me! **Just** so that can all be in vain; then I purposely ruin that and make you angry again? You think I'm a sadist, or something? Finding enjoyment in making other people miserable?" Damiana threw her hands around is complete frustration, yelling at Daniel to make him believe.

"I wouldn't put it past you! You flirted with me and led me on, then let me down and ignored me because you paid more attention to your own feelings than to the feelings of another human being!" Daniel began to turn to leave but Damiana caught his arm.

"I apologized for that. I told you **I** was at fault; that it was **my** stupidity that led to you being hurt. You didn't do anything but expect something promised to you and then have a normal reaction to the breaking of said promise. I'm at fault and I know this. I'm probably at fault now, too! I wasn't paying attention, too busy thinking of the fault's of another instead of my own." Damiana pleaded with him. She couldn't screw this up again; she wouldn't allow it.

She continued on, "I'm not used to this sort of thing, Daniel. I find it hard to talk to people, or open up so easily to another. Just doing this right now is extremely painful and against my character and better judgment. My mind keeps **screaming** at me whenever I'm near you, telling me not to let you in or get too close! Yeah, mental issue, I know. But it's how I've been basically my whole life: no one going out, no one coming in."

Daniel wasn't looking at Damiana, his head still turned towards the door. She knew he was contemplating leaving and probably would if she still wasn't clinging to his arm. After nearly 5 minutes of silence, Daniel turned his head back to her. "Damiana, I…"

Damiana released his arm and stepped away. She turned her back on him and looked over towards the window. She knew what he was going to say, 'I'm sorry, Dami, but I don't think I can trust you any longer. You're just too crazy for my taste.' Unexpectedly, Damiana felt his hand on her shoulder. She turned slowly, reluctantly awaiting the rejection she expected. When she turned, she was greeted with a hurt look from Daniel. "I… Daniel, I didn't mean to hurt you if I did... I'm sorry, maybe I should just leave."

Daniel's eyes widened, as if he found that thought absurd. "I don't know what to say, Dami. I've never really had anyone exactly… bear their soul to me in that way. It's… I don't know. Now I feel terrible."

"No! Don't apologize. Don't you **dare** even try to. I won't accept it because you shouldn't have to even do so." Damiana looked at him, bewildered. He was apologizing to **her** for how stupid **she** had been acting?

"Dami, you're putting way more trust in me than, if you're telling the truth, you've ever put in another. Or that I've put into you."

"But I haven't done anything worthy of earning your trust-"

"Oh, other than, you know, placing an unbelievably large amount of trust in me when I obviously seemed to hate you! Yeah, that's definitely **not** worth a return in trust." Daniel finished sarcastically, turning his head away from Damiana in embarrassment.

Damiana placed her hand on his face and turned it back towards her, "Well, Daniel, as a very smart person once said to me, I drop my case against you but plead that you review mine. I plead guilty to all charges and accept whatever punishment the court finds me worthy of." She allowed a small smile to brighten her features.

Unexpectedly, Daniel pulled her hand away and enfolded her into a warm hug. "Dami, can we start again?"

Damiana laughed, "Alright. Hello, my name is Damiana Arun. What's yours?"


	7. Partners

Author's Note: There, finally, a new chapter. It was a while, I know. And it's probably not my best chapter yet, but there really wasn't much to it. It's just basically Daniel and Damiana trying to get back into the flow of school after an exciting weekend, to say the least. And everyone knows how school certainly isn't the most exciting place to be.

Ah, the ever embarassing I-caught-my-attractive-new-friend-of-the-opposite-sex-naked-in-the-shower incident. It's cliche, I admit, but I couldn't resist! It was pretty boring without something just popping out (really, pun is **definitely** notf intended). And a lovely revenge set up for our secondary villian, Carina. If anyone actually feels sorry for her, I hope you see the error in your ways because I certainly don't feel sorry for her and she's one of my characters!

As always, comments/concerns/questions/grammar and spelling corrections/plot suggestiofns are certainly welcome. I'll answer basically any question you can throw at me, as long as it's story-related, that is! Enjoy!

x Sam

* * *

**7. Partners**

"No, Mom, I **promise** you I'm okay. Mother! He didn't do anything like that, don't even think that! Ugh," Damiana groaned into the receiver of the antique porcelain phone, bleached white to match the living room décor. Her index finger twined in the phone cord nervously, "I've told you twice already, Mom! Absolutely nothing happened. He found me, nearly ripped to bits, near one of those shit holes on the edge of town. He very kindly drove me to his house, treated my wounds, and proceeded to allow me to sleep off the events of the past days undisturbed. And now I'm here, in his living room, arguing with you."

Daniel sat on the couch, watching Damiana pace the around the phone, talking angrily to her mother on the other end. He felt concerned, as if his saving Damiana's life had caused something worse. He immediately forced that thought from his mind. He didn't regret helping her, she was his friend now. Good friends don't regret saving the other.

"Well, if you're going to say it like that, maybe I'll just stay **here** until school tomorrow. Maybe I'll see you tomorrow, maybe not. Have a **pleasant** evening, Mother!" Damiana spat her parting words into the receiver and slammed it back onto its base. She walked to the couch and flopped down next to Daniel, putting a pillow over her face. Her muffled scream was just a high-pitched whimper through the stuffing and fabric. When she withdrew the pillow, her face was fixed with an expression of extreme tiredness. She sighed heavily and returned the pillow to its resting place next to the couch's arm.

"Everything's alright?" Daniel asked timidly. He didn't want to disturb her anger any further by asking but would've felt rude otherwise.

Damiana didn't seem to hear but after a minute or two, she answered, annoyed, "Oh, sure, my Mother is just having a panic attack thinking I've been raped and taped to a pole in your basement without food, water, or sanitary waste management."

"Oh, I'm glad to hear your mother thinks so highly of me," was the sarcastic reply.

"You should've seen what she did to my last male friend. They couldn't get the stick out without serious surgery. Let alone the 3 weeks of physical therapy he had to have." Daniel wasn't sure whether or not she was serious. Mrs. Arun did seem like the violent type. He tried to swallow the nervous lump forming in his throat at the thought of Damiana's mom shoving a fork into his hand or maybe something far worse.

"Did she really…?" Daniel asked tentatively, pushing his hands deep into his pockets.

Damiana laughed, talking between breaths, "Daniel… did you think I… was serious?" Her head flopped back while her torso shook with laughter.

Daniel squirmed a bit under the weight of his embarrassment. "Well, I wasn't sure. Your mom did seem pretty angry when she found out you were with a guy."

_Heh, she can handle me being with guys, just not _mortal_ guys._ Damiana thought bitterly, the frustration towards her mother rising like bile in her throat. "Oh, uhm, Daniel? Is it alright, and if it isn't just say so, if I stay here one more night and get a ride to school tomorrow?" She looked down at her hands, quietly following the creases in her palms while she awaited his imminent no.

"What? Do you think I'd just shove you out into the night and expect you to walk to school? That hurts, Dami. Hurts me deep." Daniel laughed quietly, "Of course you can stay. The ride to school is of course a given, too."

"Thanks. And don't feel like you have to accept every request I make. If you're not comfortable doing something just say-"

Daniel grabbed her arm and pushed her towards the stairs, "Dami, it's **fine**. I don't mind, honestly. I want to help you out. That's what friends do. Let's find you something to wear to bed and for tomorrow." They got to the top landing and he pushed Damiana into the room at the end of the hall.

The walls, comforter, lamp shades, and curtains were all a pale lilac color. Something told her this certainly wasn't Daniel's room. Damiana picked up a framed professionally-taken picture on the end table next to the white metal-framed bed. The smiling young woman looking back at her shared some of Daniel's features. She examined the picture further, "Daniel, this is your sister's room, isn't it? Is it alright if I ask where she is?"

"Yeah, this is Lisa's room. She's off in Japan, on a student exchange for her university. My mom just likes to keep her room as Lisa left it, in case she ever decides to come home. I just think my mom wishes my sister would give up and come back to stay." Daniel began rummaging through a drawer in the nearby dresser. "Her clothes should probably fit okay. She's about the same size as you are and certainly a closer match than my mother. Plus, my sister has some more up to date clothing in her possession."

"Are you sure your sister won't mind?" Damiana placed the frame down exactly where she'd found it and took a few soft steps to Daniel's side. His hands were sorting through a drawer full of t-shirts. His fingers locked around a piece of fabric which he pulled out. It was a black shirt with green lettering across the chest that read: 'I'm no good witch.' Below the lettering was a symbol from the play _Wicked_. Damiana giggled to herself quietly.

Daniel held the shirt up to the front of her, "Do you think this is fine for tomorrow? There should be some jeans in here somewhere." He handed Dami the shirt and dove back into the open drawer, finally pulling out a pair of dark washed jeans. He pulled open one of two top drawers and pulled out a pair of black ankle socks to match the shirt. He handed over the clothing and stepped to the closet. He opened more drawers on the floor of the large closet and extracted a large pajama shirt and a pair of matching flannel pants. He put the new clothing on the bed and walked out the door, calling over his shoulder, "Just knock on my door when you're done, I need to find some pajamas for myself."

"Okay, I will." Damiana called through the closed door. She changed out of the blood stained shirt and muddy jeans from her excursion yesterday and into the shirt and flannel pants Daniel had dug up for her. _He wasn't kidding when he said she was my size. It's a nearly perfect fit!_ She plucked her grubby clothing off the floor and reopened the door. She walked down the hall to Daniel's room and knocked lightly. "Daniel?" She called politely.

When there was no answer, she knocked again and called out a bit louder, "Daniel? You in there?" Damiana was once again greeted by silence. She opened the door with a degree of uncertainty. His room was empty. _I shouldn't make the same mistake twice; I think I'll just stay out here in the hall until he comes back up._ Damiana closed the door and walked towards Lisa's room once more. _Maybe I should put these in the hamper in the bathroom. It'll save him from having to waste his time, water, and detergent on just me._ She stopped in front of the bathroom door and turned the knob, stepping inside.

Suddenly, the showering curtain burst backwards and out hopped a stark naked Daniel. Damiana's mouth fell open, her feet rooted to the wet linoleum. She felt her face redden to the color of a tomato. Daniel stood and stared blankly, the fact that he was naked in front of a teenaged female didn't seem to register yet. They stood like this for a solid two minutes, neither daring to move or say a word, each face gradually reddening further.

The silence was finally broken when Daniel's hand shot out for the towel rack, his fingers wrapping a around the small hand towel hanging there. He unfolded it quickly and concealed himself.

"I-I-I'm sorry!" Damiana managed to stammer before turning on her heel. Without warning, her feet slid out from under her, bringing her down on the linoleum with a loud _thump_. If it was possible, Damiana's face got even redder. She managed to push herself to her knees and crawl out the bathroom towards the carpeted stairs. When her hands met carpet, she pushed up and sprinted down the stairs to the couch, where she stuffed her face into the soft padding.

Daniel was left there, embarrassment flowing from every pore. When the shock had subsided a bit more, he walked numbly to his bedroom and closed the door.

* * *

The car ride the next morning was nothing less than unbearably awkward. Neither teen wanted to look at the other, for fear of what they might see. Damiana, even with all her discipline was having immense trouble trying to keep last night's events from clouding her thoughts. Daniel was using all his willpower not to let go of the wheel and crawl underneath the soft leather and plastic of the driver's seat. _Anything to escape this embarrassment_, he thought.

Damiana and Daniel were never more excited to get to school in their lives than on this day. The moment the car had pulled to a stop in the parking lot, Damiana grabbed the strap of her bag, flung the passenger door open, and took off, running flat out.

Daniel was no better. Once the car was turned off and the keys were out of the ignition, he opened his door, slammed it shut, and pressed the lock button on his key chain. When he was satisfied, there was only dust left in his wake.

If the car ride hadn't been enough, certainly all their classes together were the icing on the cake. They shared 5 of 7 classes: biology, geometry, Spanish, history, and English. The only classes Damiana could think in were sculpture and choir. She wasn't sure about whether or not they shared a study hall period, but she didn't want to waste her alone time thinking about last period.

The worst of the 5 classes that day was the second to last class of the day: biology, seeing as they had to share a table, lab supplies, and each other's input. It was an effort for either of them to look at each other. Thankfully, no one seemed to notice their strange behavior, and if they had, they wrote it off as shyness.

"Tweezers." Damiana said, holding up the next item they needed to identify on their tray. She placed them back down and pushed the tray over to Daniel's end without glancing up.

"Pins." Daniel gingerly picked up a small white box that made tiny tinkling noises.

There was giggling from across the room. Carina was laughing maniacally with one of her many bleach-blonde cronies. Carina turned around in her stool and stood, her gaze locked onto Daniel. She walked behind Damiana and Daniel's stools. She stopped behind Damiana and turned towards the cabinets on the back wall. Damiana could hear the squeaking as she opened the doors and the tinkling noise as she pulled a beaker out.

"Run into any **dogs** recently, Damiana? Share some lunch?" The cruelty was evident in her voice. When the blow of her words hit Damiana, her hand shot down to slam onto the desktop. Instead of hearing the slap of her palm hitting the table, her hand connected with the edge of the dissecting tray that Daniel had pushed over her way. One end of the tray flew up, sending the box of pins in Daniel's hand to go flying. They scattered all over the floor and the tables nearby.

"Now, now, Miss Arun, I don't think getting violent with the tray will solve any problems you have with dissection." Mr. Sillen chuckled, striding over to their lab table.

"No, Mr. Sillen, it was my fault. I should've put the pins down before I pushed the tray over to Dami. We'll clean it up, don't worry." Daniel hopped off his stool and dropped to his knees, attempting to round up a few pins.

Damiana began to do the same, rolling the pins into small piles on each desk and depositing the piles back into the box. She could hear Carina howling with laughter from her table, her little blonde followers joining in with her cackling. "Hurry up little witch, you'll need those pins for your potions!" The nearest lackey, Marci, squealed from her seat.

"Hey, Carina, Marci, all of you. That's enough. Get back to your assignment." Mr. Sillen called from his normal perch on his desk.

Damiana could feel the tears build up behind her eyes from suppressed rage. _Keep it together, Damiana. Breaking down in tears right now would mean imminent defeat. You don't want Carina to get her sick kicks from your weakness._

The period dragged on forever. Once nearly all the pins had been retrieved and placed back into the now taped up box, Daniel and Damiana hurriedly finished up their identification assignment in complete silence, each writing down their answers quietly. The moment the bell rang, they were the first out the door and halfway down the hall.

Damiana ran to her usual patch of lush green grass on the lawn, not even noticing the figure taking a seat beside her. Damiana buried her face in her backpack and took in a few steadying breaths. "I wish Daniel would just hurry up so we could leave and I could just go home." She said, exasperated.

"Dami, I'm right next to you."

Damiana's head shot up, imitating the movements of a prairie dog coming out of its tunnels. Her head immediately shot to her left side, seeing Daniel sitting there. He was lying on his back, using his backpack as a pillow. Daniel said approvingly, "It's a nice spot here, you know. Pretty nice choice, Miss Arun."

"Uh, thanks, I guess. …For complimenting my choice in grass and ground." Damiana answered shyly. Her face reddened a bit.

"And we can leave now, if you'd like. But, you know, I was hoping to pull a bit of a prank this period… if you're interested of course." Daniel said with a voice meant to tempt Damiana. It was certainly working well. Her interest was piqued.

"What did you have in mind, Mr. Ronan?" Damiana said with interest evident in her tone.

"Well, it might involve a blonde people cannot stand to be around, who considers a tiny dog as an accessory rather than a pet, and is generally unpleasant to all senses?" Daniel described vaguely, even though the answer was certainly obvious.

"You either mean Cousin It or Carina. I wouldn't ever want to harm a hair on Cousin It's body so it must be our **lovely** friend, Carina." Damiana said jokingly, enjoying the snide remark. "What exactly did you have in mind, partner in crime?"

"Well, I was hoping for something mean but not too mean. Something that is bad but wouldn't end in a terrible consequence if we were discovered. I haven't completely planned out a whole plan yet, but between both of our creativity, I think we could put something together that would pack a large bang." Daniel sat up and leaned back on his hands, looking expectantly at Damiana. His eyes sparkled evilly, "So, partner, any brilliant schemes?"

"Hah! I thought you'd never ask." Damiana pulled out a pad of paper and a pen and began to jot down her devilish plots.

* * *

Daniel and Damiana walked coolly through the double doors that served as the school's entrance. The halls were still empty, the final period still a few minutes from ending. Their target locker wasn't too hard to find. The large pink sequined C on the outside of the door was nearly impossible not to notice was space.

Daniel held his hand out to Damiana, into which she placed a bobby pin. Daniel turned the lock over and pushed the pin in the keyhole and jiggling it around. After a minutes' worth of twisting and pushing, the lock popped open and they had free reign to their target's belongings. The item they were looking for wasn't too difficult to find. It was obnoxious and hideous; it took all they had not to tear it to shreds right where they stood.

Damiana opened her bag and pulled out the secret agent that made this plan so perfect. She used the agent on the target item, put the lid back on the agent, and put it back into her backpack. Daniel carefully returned the target item to its place in the locker and returned everything to the way it'd been found.

The deed had been done successfully.

* * *

10 minutes later, the bell rang. Carina strutted out of the classroom, her expensive pumps clicking obnoxiously on the sealed asbestos flooring. She winked at the varsity football players and waved to all the girls she hated but wished to impress. Everyone else was either ignored or got a murderous stare.

She clicked up to her locker, her cronies close behind her. Carina handed her bag off to one of her followers and turned the dial on her lock to open the door. There, her precious white silk jacket hung exactly as she'd left it: untouched and completely perfect.

Her manicured fingers encircled the top of the jacket and lifted it off the hook. One arm went in and then the other. Carina was so absorbed in her own reflection in her locker mirror that she barely noticed the silence emanating from her pack of blondes. Finally, Marci felt the need to by break the silence with a scream.

"CARINA!!" The hallway fell silent and Carina spun around, her face a mask of pure annoyance. People usually didn't last long if they interrupted her grooming.

"What the hell do you **want**, Marci?" Carina hissed, barely taking in the horror on her "friend's" face.

Marci swallowed, her hands shaking visibly. "C-Carina… your jacket…"

"Yeah Marci, it's okay to be jealous," Carina said with mock comfort, turning back to her mirror, "this **is** a very nice jacket. Cost my daddy a fortune to buy me, but he knows I'm worth it."

"But, but, but… Carina!" Marci squealed again, her voice more frantic. "It's got writing on it!"

Carina stopped primping herself and spun around to face Marci, their noses nearly touching. "**What** did you say, Marci? Is there something **wrong** with my jacket?" Marci nodded, her hair bouncing around in a curly red frenzy. Carina pulled each arm out and turned the jacket around.

On the back of her immaculately clean jacket were words written in a slippery black substance that smelled of car engines. She concluded it was engine oil. Carina screamed and dropped the jacket, running through the front doors in a raging huff, her pack of blondes right on her heels. The other students in the hall wasted no time in gathering around the discarded jacket.

The nearest student, a boy with jet black hair with grass green streaks picked up the jacket and held it up. The writing read:

_**She's a bad little witch.**_

The plan was a success.


	8. Cruel

Author's Note: Yay, another chapter! Sorry, they've been few and far between. Finals are killer and cruel on my poor creativity. But meh, what am I to do but wait them out? Nothing, I suppose.

Once again, comments/grammar errors/typoes/plot suggestions/topics of discussion are always welcome via reviews. That's for reading!

x Sam

* * *

**8. Cruel**

"Oh my God!" Damiana cried between fits of laughter. She couldn't get over how flawless their plan had been. There was no way anyone would suspect them, short of searching for fingerprints in the oil or finding their hair caught in the lock. The likelihood of someone trying that desperately just to find someone to blame for the ruin of the jacket, one that any rich father could easily replace, was slim to none. They were as good as free.

"Dami… be… a bit… quieter!" Daniel attempted to quiet his accomplice through his own uncontrollable guffaws, "someone might hear us and… suspect something."

Damiana flopped down onto the sun-warmed grass, breathing deeply. "Oh gosh, Daniel. Everyone who would care is either off somewhere inside the school, way out of earshot, or they're off flocking after Miss Bad Witch."

Daniel sat down beside her, sighing. "I guess that's right. But still, we're not completely in the clear yet. Who knows when the 'Bad Witch' will stop? No one, because she'll just keep going until she's satisfied… which is almost never." Daniel sighed again, "She would give us infinite hell for the rest of our high school careers."

Damiana sat up from her spread eagle on the grass. "Who says we'll get caught? And besides, what's done is done. No way to change the past once it's already happened."

"I guess." Daniel was hesitant to continue, "What if, maybe, we shouldn't have done what we did? Maybe we were a bit too hars-"

"Daniel!" Damiana interrupted shrilly. "You're having regrets when it was your idea to begin with! And you know she deserved it for all the shit she gives to us, not to mention the whole rest of the student body she's humiliated at least once. She's a walking, breathing, living in carnation of absolute hate!" Damiana was waving her hands wildly, caught up in her mid-rant tirade, "And another thing! Her father can just buy her a new one. He certainly has enough money to. No matter what Carina says, none of what she owns is specially made for her body only. Just another example of the bullshit she spreads through the school." Damiana finished with a snarl on her flawless features.

"That **is** true… but still, I have this nagging feeling that maybe we shouldn't have done it, that maybe we went too far with it. Evil only begets even more evil, Dami." Daniel replied in his soft, thoughtful manner that always left Damiana either confused or guilty.

"Heh, tell me about it." A brief flash of Damiana's first time seeing a vampire kill a human popped into her head. _Vampires only lead to more vampires, and vampires are evil, disgusting, filthy monsters. Is that what I am? Is that what Daniel feels that we are? No, it was an innocent prank, no reason to compare myself to a horrible bloodsucker!_ Her face twisted into a disgusted grimace at the mere thought.

Once again, the vampire drawing the blood out of its poor human victim edged its way back into her thoughts. The older man's face had been clouded by shock, slowly turning a sickly gray as the bloodsucker continued to feed. There wasn't anything she could've done to stop it, considering she was so young and inexperienced. Being only a novice with at the time, her fighting abilities and knowledge of offensive and defensive spells were very limited. Trying anything probably wouldn't have helps the man and might have gotten her killed, too. A witch is of no use to its human charges when dead.

_Just another lose-lose situation there. I was sick with the thought of being so powerless that night. Maybe… maybe I am as bad as that. Maybe Daniel feels he's the powerless one here. Does he feel like I pushed him into this? Can I even fix this?_

Daniel was watching his friend as she toiled over her confusing thoughts. He watched as her head fell slowly into her hands. He didn't dare speak for he didn't want to disrupt his friend's desperate contemplation. _Is she actually taking what I said to heart? Not that I didn't want her to, just didn't think it'd be that easy._ Suddenly, Damiana's hear shot up, so quickly that her movements seemed to blur. "…Dami?"

"Daniel, there's something I need to do. You can come if you want, but I think it'd be a whole lot better if you didn't tag along." She was on her feet before either of them really realized it, pacing around frantically. "Because honestly, it'd be easier to do this without you. Not that I don't want you!" Damiana said in response to his confused expression.

"Okay, whatever you need to do, do it. Just as long as it isn't anything too risky or illegal, because I'll come if it is." Daniel made as if he wanted to stand, but Damiana put her hands on his shoulders and pushed until he was sitting back down on the grass.

"No! It's not risky at all, completely safe and legal. But I guarantee it'll fix everything that we did. I promise!" She turned and ran towards the side entrance of the main school building. The doors burst open and Damiana disappeared inside, leaving Daniel in the grass, completely confused and alone.

* * *

The next day, Daniel was getting out of his car. Without warning, a hand hit the roof o his car. He jumped, nearly dropping his backpack as he was getting it from the passenger seat where he'd left it. His eyes followed the arm up to the face that it belonged to. There stood Damiana, a huge, triumphant grin brightening her features. She looked victorious, as if she'd pulled off the most difficult thing in the entire world like it was nothing. "What'd you do, Dami? Not another prank, I hope."

"Geez, Daniel, no 'good morning, Dami, dear' or 'how are you this splendid morning?' or any sort of polite greeting and banter?" Damiana had a look of mock hurt and shock on her face now. "Now c'mon, we're going to miss it!" She grabbed his arm and began to run, trailing him behind her like a puppy on a very short leash. When they made it to the front door to the school, Daniel pulled her to a stop and spun her around to face him.

"Dami, Jesus, what's so important that you have to nearly pull my arm out of my socket?" Daniel questioned, rubbing his shoulder.

"Ugh, you'll see if we could just keep going!" She tightened her grip on his hand once more and burst through the front door, Daniel hanging on for dear life. They sped down the hallways until they came upon a group of Carina's giggly blonde bimbos, all so self-absorbed in their own lives that they didn't seem to notice Daniel or Damiana staring at them openly.

"Damiana…" Daniel whispered anxiously, "returning to the scene of the crime the very next day just to spy around probably isn't a very bright idea." He pulled on her arm gently, but it was like trying to pull a marble statue through piles of sand. _Since when is she so strong when she's this stubborn? Must be some kind of reflex that kicks in._

While Daniel continued his futile attempt to move his friend, Damiana stared intently at the bubbly clique. One of the many tall, blonde figures reached for her lock and dialed in her combination agonizingly slow. Damiana could hear the cogs click, grind, and turn in their metal casing as she trained all her hearing on the figure. When the locker was opened, Damiana tugged once on Daniel's arm, sending him toppling into her. He nearly fell to the ground but she was still planted solidly on the tiled flooring. Daniel regained his balance and readied his reprieve when he noticed the look of absolutely concentration and focus on Damiana's face. He averted his eyes from her to the locker that her eyes seemed to be boring into.

Carina opened her locker door and began to pull out books and shove them into the lilac canvas tote that served as her backpack, matching perfectly with the rest of her outfit that day. She was whining and gossiping about anyone and anything as usual, until her hand hesitated over the white jacket hung neatly in her locker where it had been the previous day. Damiana's hand tightened slightly around Daniel's fingers.

Carina's anger was flaring again; jumping to the conclusion that someone had put the ruined jacket back as a cruel reminder to her of the horrible incident of the day before. Her hand shot out and whipped the jacket off the hook on which it had been. She once again continued her whining and bitching to her clique about her perfect jacket and how It had been defiled. She was going on about how much her father had spent on the jacket for the millionth time when something caught her eye. Carina flipped the jacket over and stared at the back panel of fur with disbelief.

When Carina's domineering voice had ceased to be heard, her followers quieted immediately. They pulled in tighter around her, clamoring to see what had disturbed their queen and clique leader. A few girls repeated her name until small gasps engulfed the group entirely. Every perfectly powdered face and glossed lip hung open and blanked with shock.

With the absence of the clique's unintelligent conversation and gossip, the other students began to take notice. There wasn't much that could shut the clique up, so anything that could was amazing and most likely worth gawking at. A crowd formed around Carina and shocked whispers rippled through the small gathering of students. No one dared speak lest the silence and disbelief break.

Daniel hadn't seen a thing from the vantage point he and Damiana had. He turned to his friend, searching her grinning features for any clue as to what was so baffling. "Dami, what's on the jacket? What'd you do to it?"

Damiana stared victoriously for a minute longer, and then broke her gaze. "It's not what **is** on there…" she said cryptically, "it's what **isn't** on there anymore."

Daniel stopped to consider what he'd just heard and then pressed on further, "What's that supposed to mean? What **isn't** there, Dami?" He thought for another minute more, "You didn't… Dami, I thought you were going to fix the jacket! What you did is hardly fix-"

"I did fix it! Just watch and you'll see what I did for this situation."

"Dami, just tell me what you did!"

Damiana wouldn't answer or say anything more on the subject. Daniel was just about to press on with his interrogation when a commanding voice came booming from down the hall. "What in God's name is going on down here?! Hey, break it up!"

Principal Howard pushed down the hall, any students in his way went stumbling back to avoid being trampled or get landed with a detention. He came up next to Carina and looked down on her and her jacket from his huge 6 foot 6" height. Daniel saw his face wrinkle in confusion and felt his own do the exact same. _What would he be confused about? He never saw the jacket when it was ruined and would probably be angry if it were ruined in any other way that it was previously. What the hell did Dami even __**do**__ to it?! Cut the whole goddamn back off?_

"What's so interesting about this jacket? It looks like just a plain old white fur jacket to me." Principal Howard plucked the jacket from Carina's still shock-frozen hands. Her face turned upwards slowly to look at her principal. Principal Howard turned the jacket around to show the rest of the crowd what had seemed to baffle everyone in Carina's proximity. Faces looked up, mouths dropping open and confused whispers once again spreading from person to person. Realization hit Daniel like a ton of bricks to the head. He looked over to his friend beside him, seeing her mock amazement. He looked back to the suspended jacket in genuine amazement.

"Mr. Ronan!" Principal Howard bellowed towards the back of the group. Daniel pointed to himself, bewildered by the sudden attention focused on him, bewildered. "Yes, you! You're the only Ronan I know in this school! Now, what do you see on this jacket, son?"

"I don't see anything wrong with it, sir. It looks absolutely pristine." Daniel said only loud enough for Principal Howard to hear, the disbelief evident in his voice.

"Right. Miss Arun! How about you? What do you see?" Principal Howard turned the jacket slightly towards Damiana's direction.

"I only see the back of a white fur jacket, Principal Howard. And what an undeniably immaculate white it is." Damiana's voice was polite and void of any of the pride she'd been gushing with only five minutes previous. Her voice was laced with a bit of shyness. "I'm not sure what all the commotion was about. Although, it is a very nice looking jacket. Carina is definitely very lucky to have such a nice one." She smiled, a perfect mixture of politeness, courtesy, and innocence. Her poker face was flawless.

"Well, in that case," he dropped the jacket back into Carina's still extended arms and drew himself up to his full height, "all of you, disperse! Scatter off to your homerooms or lockers pronto, before I start handing out detentions!" With that, the hallway cleared quickly while Principal Howard lumbered back down the hall to his office beside the main office.

When most of the student body had zipped away, Carina could be heard once more, her voice quiet and shaky with disbelief, "How did…? When did…? Who did…?"

"Aww, Carina, at least you have your jacket back." A short, sporty-looking brunette said cheerfully, placing her hand on Carina's shoulder. She shrugged out from underneath the comforting touch and went to pick up her tote and jacket once again.

"Well," Carina said, tossing her hair back, "someone was still in my locker without my knowledge or permission." She continued her whining strong once more, luring her followers away by walking down the hall, the same way a fisher fly on a fishing line lures the fish over. As she passed Damiana, she cast her a dirty look, "Make sure none of those dissecting pins from yesterday deflate that huge head of yours. Then I'd have nothing more to laugh at!" The clique burst out in laughter as their leader pulled them down the hallway with her mere presence.

"Well, at least I don't kill my own kind to make fur coats, Carina. I don't think your brother and sister dogs appreciate it very much." Damiana retorted, ignoring their burning glares and turned towards the opposite end of the hall, grabbing Daniel's hand. "C'mon, Daniel, we better get to our lockets before we're late for homeroom."

"Well!" Carina called back, "At least my friends actually have half a brain because of whoever's friends with you can't be too bright!"

Daniel's grip tighter on Damiana's hand ever so slightly. "Oooh, Carina," Damiana tossed back mockingly, "there go your chances of getting Daniel, huh? Seeing as we seem to be friends now.

Carina faltered. "But I didn't mean it like… that." Before she could finish her sentence, Daniel and Damiana has turned the corner and gone.


	9. Stress

**9. Stress**

"How did you even manage that?" Daniel asked Damiana. "Short of buying her a new coat, what could you have possibly done to fix that?"

"I told you I have my ways. Remember when I told you that you could come with me if you wanted, but that I really didn't think you should?" Damiana stopped in front of her locker, dialed in her combination, and began switching out her books. "Well, I did it then."

"So, what? Do you have some black market bleach? Underground illegal dry cleaning ring? Maybe a souped-up washing machine?" Daniel kept throwing out guesses. How Damiana could have managed o pull off an amazing prank and then completely fix it baffled him. "There has to be something!"

"A master never reveals her secrets," was all she answered with. Daniel pressed on all through homeroom, but all she'd do was mimic locking her lips and tossing the key.

Daniel wouldn't give up. He badgered Damiana throughout the day, trying as many approaches as he knew. Reverse psychology, bribery, and begging were among his attempts. He didn't dare threats, not knowing how his friend would react. He contemplated the idea. _What would she even do if I tried? I sort of like keeping all of my appendages. Not that I'm scared… I just like being able to walk._

After his hundredth try, Damiana finally acknowledged him near the end of Biology class. "Oh my gosh, Daniel! Give it up, man! If I didn't tell you the first 99 times, I won't tell you now!" She hissed at him, not wanting to draw too much attention. "Weren't you the one who said we should be quiet about it? And besides, should it really matter how I managed it? What's done is done and that's final."

Daniel stopped dead, the image of him minus his legs once again coming to the forefront of his mind. He didn't press the issue any further.

* * *

A week had passed without anything of immense importance taking place. Carina was still her usual bratty self and the school carried on as usual. The vampire world was quiet, too. Damiana hadn't seen any activity since the day she'd escaped. Perhaps they'd sustained heavy losses and decided to lay low for a while. Nevertheless, the silence was innerving. To be honest, she actually wanted to see another bloodsucker just to rid her of the anxious feeling building up in her stomach daily.

School slinked by slowly, each day seeming to last a year or two. School teacher would pile on homework, buckling everyone but Damiana down. When you've been through high school more than once, you pick up enough info to make homework an absolute breeze.

"Dami, how do you do it? You're the only person recently in our grade who doesn't seem absolutely stressed. How do you even do it?" Daniel said over his open history book, scrawling notes all over the pages. His hair was tousled and his shirt was wrinkled in odd places. Everyone seemed to be as anxious as she was, except about a more common issue. Damiana looked around the library, imagining her peers attempting a fight with a vampire, each ending with a broken neck or a huge amount of blood loss. "Dami?"

Damiana snapped back into reality with a jolt, 'Sorry, what?" Her voice was airy and preoccupied, her gaze still wandering over the stressed faces of her peers.

"You were snarling over at Dylan, you know." He said, a hint of concern in his voice. "Are you feeling okay? Do you want to see the nurse or something? 'Cause I can take you…"

"Nah, I'm fine. Just daydreaming a bit, is all."

"Must have been a pretty shitty daydream to be giving such a death glare like that to someone." Daniel noted, burying his face back into the books he was studying.

"Yeah, I guess it was." Damiana sighed quietly, trying to disguise her own disgust at her imagination. She flipped absentmindedly through the doodles in her English binder.

Daniel looked up, just barely hearing the sigh, "Something you want to talk about?"

"Thanks, but no thanks," she said, happening upon an unfinished drawing. She continued to add to it, lightly shading the underside of the wings of a graceful soaring dove. "I'm fine, really. Just feeling the effects of all this homework-related stress, you know?"

"But you're not stressed." Daniel stated as if it were immensely obvious, because it certainly was. Damiana was the only sophomore who was always perfectly groomed and still had a happy glow about her, unlike everyone around her. Calling her stressed was like calling an elephant seal a beautiful creature.

"How do you know?" She retorted, glaring at him from over his book. "It's not like everyone shows stress in the same way. Maybe I just express it differently than our class." She finished off her dove and turned to a blank sheet of notebook paper. She started a quick outline for another drawing.

"Oh, so you draw when you're stressed?" Daniel put his history book down flat on the table and looked over at Damiana's dove drawing. "Damn, Dami. That's amazing." He said in awe, looking over at the beginning sketches of her next masterpiece. They were the rough outlines of a face.

"Sometimes, I guess," she moved on to drawing facial features once the shape of the head was to her liking, "I mean, I do other things, too. It's just that those other things are non-existent for the time being."

Daniel's eyes were focused on the drawing while he asked his next question, "Like a sport or club or something?"

Damiana hesitated for a second, her quick and enhanced thought-processing working to find a suitable answer. "Yes, a sport. The sport I play isn't in season right now so I draw to relieve stress." She was working on the eyes, making the 2 dimensional lines and shading seem deep, life-like, and knowledgeable, as if they weren't really just lead on paper.

"What sport?" Daniel tore his eyes from her hands reluctantly and looked at her face, his look curious.

"Huh?" Damiana blurted, not really paying attention now. Sports weren't something she was ever allowed to play. With her better conditioning and enhanced physical and mental abilities, academic clubs and sports were too easy and it just felt too much like cheating.

"I asked what sport you played." He said patiently, as if he didn't really want to draw attention to her obviously confused and preoccupied state.

"Oh," she said, faking understanding flawlessly. The gears and cogs in her head were working on overdrive, furiously trying to churn out an acceptable answer, "I play… basketball." It was the only sport she knew the season of. The rules, goal, lingo, or even equipment were completely unknown to her. She kept shading the face of her drawing to disguise her discomfort. It didn't feel good to lie to Daniel outright.

"Ah, I play soccer and I'm trying out for the swim team this winter." Daniel brightened up a bright at the mention of something he enjoyed. Damiana liked it. She shook her head, trying to shake out the hazy, feel-good feeling that was clouding her thoughts.

_Well, now I know how to cheer him up… learn more about sports._ Damiana thought, looking briefly at his face as he talked animatedly about his new teammates on his soccer team. _So, soccer uses goals and a soccer ball that you kick into said goals. Learning new things already._

"We have practice today after school, if you'd like to come and watch." Daniel said, nonchalantly. It was blatantly obvious that he wanted her there.

_Well, of course I __**want**__ to go! My mom may not let me have a boy, but there shouldn't be any problem with just looking at them._ "I'll see," she said as she drew a few extra touches to the female face on her sheet of paper. _Getting past not getting in trouble with my mom will be difficult, but do-able. I could just say it's extra time for reading quietly or maybe a quick after school jog around the soccer fields…_

"Okay, so maybe I'll see you?" Daniel asked, smiling.

Damiana's heart skipped a beat as it flew up in her throat, "Maybe you will." She barely managed to say, trying to sound lackadaisical.

BEEP. Damiana stoop up, gathering the few books and belongings she'd had out on the table. Without Daniel noticing, she ripped her newly finished drawing out of the notebook, quickly signed her name, and sneakily dropped it atop his open backpack. She scuttled out, tossing a quick "see ya'" over her shoulder to Daniel. He was still sorting notes as she surged out of the library door with her peers.

* * *

"Wow, Dan, did you draw this?" Fred asked, pulling Damiana's drawing out from between the pages of his history notes. He examined it intently.

"Draw what?" Daniel said, sifting through his soccer gear in his duffle bag. He was searching for his shirt among the warzone that was his duffle.

"This one." Fred held it up to Daniel's back, waiting for him to turn and look at the sheet of paper in his hands.

"Just give me a sec, okay, Fred?" Daniel said over his shoulder. He was shoveling things out now. Cleats, socks, knee pads, deodorant, and a water bottle came out but no t-shirt. "Damnit, where's my shirt?"

"C'mon, Dan, just tell me if this drawing's yours or not, and then I'll help you look for it." Fred continued to hold the sheet of paper out for his friend to take a look at.

"Fine," Daniel sighed, irritation evident in his voice, "What are you babbling on and on about? A drawing?"

Fred shoved the picture closer to Daniel's face so that they paper was nearly touching his nose, "Did you draw this or not?"

Daniel grabbed the picture and moved it farther from his face. He studied the drawing quickly. "Wow, that is good. Actually no, it's fantastic! It looks exactly like my sister. It could almost be an actual photograph of her for how realistic it looks. I sure as hell didn't draw this, Fred. I already have enough issues with just drawing a dog." Daniel held the paper on the edges, hoping not to smudge any of the delicate pencil strokes. He looked at the lines and shading closer. It was almost an exact duplicate of his sister's senior year photo on her nightstand and in every photo album in the house.

"Had to be someone who knew you sister, man. Maybe the art teacher." Fred offered.

"First of all, that' pretty sketchy behavior. And second of all, it just couldn't have been. My sister never took art. He couldn't have seen her all that often to have received her senior photo. Plus, she didn't even go to this school." Daniel said, throwing Fred an annoyed glance. "Maybe it was someone on the team. You've all seen my sister's pictures when you've come over after practice. Hell, Brody even called her hot." He finished with utter disgust in his voice.

Daniel considered asking each player about the drawing until Fred interrupted his planning.

"Nah, can't be. None of us can draw, either. At least not this well." Fred moved over to his locker to get his cleats. He sat on the bench and started putting them on, "Maybe it was someone else who's been to your house."

"That's a pretty big stretch, though. Maybe there's a signature on here somewhere." Daniel checked each corner until he happened upon a small, neatly written signature on the basketball his sister had decided to hold in the drawing and in her photo. "Ah, here it is." Daniel paused, awe painted on his face and present in his voice. "Damiana drew this?"

"That girl can draw? Seriously?" Fred stopped mid-knot and looked to Daniel for confirmation. "She drew **that**?"

"I guess she did." Daniel sat down beside Fred. "See? Damiana Arun, right there. This must've been what she was drawing in the library today."

"Damn, you weren't kidding." Fred squinted down at the basketball. He whistled, "The new question is: why was Damiana Arun in your house, huh?" Fred winked at him.

"Christ, Fred. It's not like that with us." Daniel pushed Fred playfully and stood up. "We're just good friends. No physical attraction whatsoever." There was a tiny bit of uncertainty in his voice.

"Psh, yeah right. Have you seen her? She's hot, man. I wouldn't mind getting to know her myself, you know?" Fred stated playfully, elbowing Daniel in the ribs.

"Geez, Fred, she's not your type. Trust me," Daniel didn't sound very amused. He placed the picture gingerly into his backpack. Once it was safely tucked away, he went back to locating his shirt.

"Oh c'mon, man! I could get her." Fred winked again, pulling his own t-shirt on over his head.

"You could try, as long as you don't mind losing your legs. Really, Fred, she isn't your type." Daniel picked up his deodorant and put some on, temporarily giving up his search.

"Well, what's her type? Maybe I am her type."

"Jesus, Fred! You're not her type, either!" Daniel growled, irritation his dominant emotion among other things. "Just give the fuck up already."

"Wow, Dan, calm down." Fred said, talking normally once more, "It makes you sound a bit jealous… unless you are, then you certainly know how to portray your emotions."

"I'm not jealous!" Daniel snapped. He sat on the bench forcefully and shoved his feet into his cleats.

"Sounds like you are, man. You **do** like her, don't you?" Fred pushed, his voice getting a tiny bit higher.

"Fred, give it up. Just shut up. I don't care what you do, just drop it." Daniel snapped again, shoving Fred out of his way and heading towards the door.

Fred ran to catch up, "Shit, Dan. I was just messing with you. Don't take it so seriously. If you don't like her, then whatever. It's not my issue. But if you **do** like her, well…"

"Yeah, whatever."

"Hey, Daniel!" A voice called, followed by the sound of approaching footsteps on the paved pathway to the locker rooms.

Daniel looked around and saw Damiana two or three yards away, running towards them. She was in a t-shirt and running shorts, as if she'd just gone for a long jog. Her backpack was slung over her shoulder. "Oh, hey Dami!" He called back, his mood brightening already.

"Did I miss watching practice already?" She noticed his shirt-less and toned physique, her heart pumping but not from the run.

Daniel blushed very lightly, "Oh, uh… I lost my shirt so I just decided to go partially in uniform."

"Would you like me to help you look for it?" Damiana asked nicely, hoping to seem like she cared for his shirt when she was pretty happy seeing him without one on.

"Ooh, someone doesn't like seeing Dan shirtless." Fred sang mockingly. Daniel elbowed him playfully in the ribs.

"No, that's not what I… I mean, if you're comfortable like that, it's perfectly…" She wasn't sure how to word it properly. Her mind was slowly getting flustered.

"So you **do** want to see Dan without his shirt on." It was more of a statement rather than a question.

Damiana was about to answer when she sensed a thick, sickening aura unlike the bland human one she was so used to now. It was coming from near the forest's edge behind the locker rooms. Her face reddened with rage. _How __**dare**__ they even come this close to Rochelle!_

"Somebody's blushing." Fred sang in a sing-song voice.

"Daniel looks fine with or without a shirt, now if you'd please excuse me, there's something I need to take care of." Damiana said through fritted teeth. She ran past Fred and Daniel towards the locker room to throw them off. She ran right through to a window in the back and scrabbled over the open sill. She landed on her feet, instinctively falling into a crouch.

She looked around, spreading her aura-sensing ability farther out around her, like sonar. She stopped, the vampiric aura finally making a bleep on her radar. She paused for a second, making sure she memorized the exact location. Damiana then bolted, dodging around trees as if she'd been running through these woods her entire life. She was honing in on the aura, breaking out into a clearing. She spotted it, crouching down in a tracking position. Damiana leapt into the air after a few long bounds. She landed atop the figure, pinning the vampire to the grass.

The vampire let out a loud shriek almost that of tearing metal. Damiana fought against the urge to cover her ears, her every cell writhing in pain from the noise. When she was on the verge of giving in, the bloodsucker stopped to get ready for a second scream. Damiana thought quickly, digging in her backpack for something to plug its mouth with. She settled on a pair of socks from gym class and pushed them into the gaping mouth. The vampire stopped squirming immediately, unsure of how to deal with the ball of cotton shoved into her mouth.

"Okay, bloodsucker, what the hell are you doing here? The hell do you want?" Damiana demanded, pushing down on the shoulders of the body beneath her.

The vampire started squirming again, working her jaw to get the socks out of her mouth. Damiana sighed, grabbing the ball of cotton and pulling it out. The vampire gave her a horrible snarl, baring her teeth menacingly.

"Hurry up and talk before I do more to your jaw than just put a sock in it." Damiana threatened.

The vampire glared openly then began to speak, "A better question is what do you want with **me**, witch? It's not like I was going to kill anyone. Maybe just a little snack…" The vampire mocked, a hungry smile showing off her sharp, glinting teeth.

Damiana lifted the torso of the bloodsucker up by the shirt then slammed her back down as hard as she could, "You touch anyone and you're dead! I mean it, one hair out of place or one neck bitten into and you're as good as murdered!" Damiana tightened her grip on the bloodsucker's shirt in case she needed to throw her down again.

The vampire sneered, "Aren't we a bit violent! It's just so sweet that you care so much for those walking blood banks! They're just so **lucky** to have you! Especially since you're something they used to **burn**." Her voice was drowning in sarcasm.

Damiana kneed her in the stomach. The bloodsucker spluttered.

"Shut up, you filthy leech! Last I checked, you were the trapped one so saying things like that are prohibited." Damiana jammed her knee into the vampire's stomach once more.

"Damnit, stop that!" The vampire launched into a short fit of coughing. "I wasn't here for any blood! Only for information."

Damiana stared at her, anger blending with confusion, "Information? Who here would have any information that you'd actually need?"

The leech laughed evilly, "You're certainly not on top of your game. There's a human here in this town, one we call the Informer. He collects information and sells it off for protection. Protection of what? I don't actually know, but they say he's the best. Better than his grandfather, even." The leech stopped, allowing her revelation to sink in.

Damiana's curiosity was piqued now, "What information does he gather? Who does he sell it to?"

"He gets the dirt on other vampires: names, weaknesses, strengths. It's pretty extensive; you name a vampire and he could tell you what he had for breakfast, or, rather, who he had." The vampire smiled wickedly before continuing, "He sells the info off to vampire clans. They use it for fights over hunting territory or just as revenge. Sometimes it's just to know the enemy or for blackmail purposes. Every vampire wants him dead, but at the same time, no one wants to lose their precious Informer. That's how he gets his protection: he's untouchable. Until… well, you know."

"What? Until what?!" Damiana said, pulling the vampire up until their noses nearly touched.

"Until he messes with a vampire who's too proud and tough. Us 'leeches' are immensely proud creatures. We can't handle being down talked or blackmailed. Giving away a vampire's weaknesses is definitely a horrible blow to the ego and a possible death sentence. You know, I'm surprised he's even lived this long. I wouldn't give him much longer before he finally gives out the wrong information to someone."

Damiana pushed her back down, pushing further, "Who's the Informer? Tell me his name!"

The vampire looked genuinely scared for a split second, and then shook her head furiously, refusing to say anymore.

"Tell me of I'll kill you!" Damiana slid one of her many concealed daggers out of her shorts leg. She put the point right above the bloodsucker's heart. Once again, her eyes bugged out frantically, but she refused to say anymore.

Damiana held the blade there, allowing the vampire one last chance. When she still said nothing, the blade went right through the pale flesh and straight to the heart. Blood pooled around the blade, drying immediately. There was a faint sizzling sound as the ancient Arun magic burned the vampire's cold flesh. She shrieked once more before Damiana shoved the sock ball back into her mouth. The body beneath her convulsed once before remaining still, no longer moving.

Damiana pulled out her dagger, cleaned it on her shirt, and turned to get a match from her backpack to burn the corpse. She put her dagger back into its sheath hidden under her shorts and pulled out her match book. When she'd turned back to the corpse, a match already in her hand, the corpse was nowhere to be seen. All she saw was a faint trail of blood and a line of flattened grass where it looked like a body had been dragged.

"Shit." She sighed. She threw the match into the grass and replaced her matchbook. "Better head home to change. Going back to watch Daniel, covered in blood, would probably not be as conspicuous as I would like." Damiana shouldered her backpack and ran off towards home.

* * *

Abby ran around the outside of the camp, as were her orders from Terrell. She was to scent around and find any remaining bodies or living vampires from their most recent fight and bring them back to him. _This isn't a job for me,_ she realized as she started her rounds, _why doesn't he have Reece do it? He'd enjoy it more._

She made her first scout around and moved a bit closer to the tree line. As she did, she sensed Jaden's aura, her heart skipping a beat. She hadn't seen him after the fight had ended mere minutes ago. She was hoping beyond hop that he hadn't been injured or, even more horrifying, killed. She sped up, hoping to disprove or confirm her fears.

She moved a bit closer to the trees, having seen movement. With the instincts of a hunter, she crouched and moved forward. She jumped, landing on the back of an unsuspecting vampire. "Jaden!" She yelled happily.

Jaden seemed completely unruffled, a smile blossoming on his face. He carefully extracted Abby from his back and set her on her feet. "Abby, love, what's wrong? You act like you expected me dead."

"Well, uh… I did." She said, her voice showing her embarrassment while her cheeks flushed lightly.

"Aww, you think I'm that dreadful of a fighter? That hurts more than an actual injury." He gave her a look of mock despair, and then playfully dropped into a hunter's crouch. "Shall I show you how well I fight?" He said, his voice teasing.

Jaden jumped towards his mate, only to crash into the tree behind her. He turned to find her and flashed a confused look. "Abby?"

She rushed off in the opposite direction, continuing her route around the forest's edge. Jaden rushed to catch her so he could question her further. "Abigail, what is going on, love?" He was concerned now, since Abby usually enjoyed their games. She also tended to share the information he wanted and then some.

Abby pushed on, determined to finish her assignment before she got distracted again. She wasn't looking to cause any trouble after a battle. "I'm following orders, Jaden."

"Orders? Orders to do what?" Jaden reached for her arm but came up short. "Abby, stop so we can talk."

"Jaden, I don't have **time** for this! Terrell told me to find…" Abby stopped, allowing Jaden to catch up to her."

"Find what, love?" Jaden asked, frustrated. He saw her expression and questioned further, "Abby, what is going on? You're acting so odd." He followed her gaze. "What are you staring a-?"

"Shh!" Abby interrupted him, placing one slender finger over her lips to silence him. He gave her a nervous glance, and then questioned her with his mind, _Abigail! What is going on?_

_You'll see._ She sent back her thoughts to him. She catapulted herself forward running for a fallen maple. She vaulted over it like an Olympic pole vaulter and landed on something behind it. She hissed viciously at something, followed by even more hissing from another source. Jaden saw his mate's reaction and ran to her aid. He jumped over the maple's trunk, landing in front of a tangle of pale limbs. Jaden plunged into the fight, dragging the newcomer off of Abby and pinning her against the ground. The unfamiliar female writhed and hissed under Jaden's weight. She was weak; the scent of human blood on her aura was almost nonexistent. There certainly was a twinge of blood but nothing witch or human.

"What do you want?" Jaden spit, his face a mask of pure anger.

The female wriggled some more, trying to move out from under Jaden's body. She came to no avail. Realizing defeat, she began talking calmly and collectively, "My name is Anna Belanger. I am here only to find my brother. If he is not here, I will leave once I am satisfied."

Jaden blinked, taken aback. Abby's rage, however, had not cooled. "There's no one named **Belanger** here!" She hissed the name with contempt, as if its very existence made her sick, "Why don't you leave before we tear you apart, piece by piece."

"No," Jaden cut in, his tone unreadable, "she's just here to find someone she loves…"

"But she's trespassing, Jaden! You know Terrell's policy!" Jaden rose from the ground, extending a hand to Anna. Abby screamed frantically, "No! We have to take her to Terrell or Reece! They'll kill me if they find out I let her go!"

"They won't find out," Jaden growled menacingly, causing Abby to flinch backwards a few steps. Her rage now deflated, she sat down on the log, an apologetic pout on her face.

Jaden gave her a curt nod and turned his attention back to the new vampire. "Anna, I take it your brother has a different last name than you."

"You take correct," Anna replied, nodding slowly, "he's my stepbrother, but I love him as if he were my own flesh and blood."

"We really don't go by last names here; they have no real authority or precedence here so most don't say." Jaden paused, thinking. "Maybe if you had a picture, possibly we could help…" He looked back at Abby, hoping to find approval from her. All he found was Abby looking dejectedly at a little brown leaf she'd found. Jaden sighed, turning back to Anna.

She rummaged through her pockets, pulling out a small black wallet that looked like it's been through years of abuse. She parted the supple leather flaps and searched through the plastic credit card leafs. She had numerous I.D.s and a bunch of pictures. After fluttering through the plastic for a few seconds, she settled on a picture of a teenage boy. Anna turned the wallet towards Jaden and allowed him to get a better look.

Jaden's face fell, quickly replaced by an icy gaze. When Jaden didn't answer, the curiosity got the better of Abby. She rose from her perch to see the picture. Her mouth fell open.

"But… but… he's human!"

* * *

Author's Note: New chapter! Yay! And we see some vampires once again. I know, they were gone for a long while and I'm sorry about that. Let's just hope Reece didn't feel too neglected. He should probabyl make it into the next chapter but I won't make any promises!

Anywho, enjoy the chapter and reviews are always welcome!

x Sam


	10. Nightmare

**10. Nightmare**

Sleep was dreadful. Damiana slept fitfully, a nightmare ruining her sleeping patterns. It seemed to involve vampires, Daniel, and some mysterious figure who was yet to be revealed to her. She was fighting off vampires coming in from all angles, which wasn't so bad of a dream. Then, it seemed to change: instead of fighting to protect herself, another person was added in. It was enough pressure staying alive herself but entirely more trying to protect the life of an innocent mortal. The role of the innocent mortal was Daniel's. Daniel seemed different, too, as if seeing these vampires wasn't a huge shock to him. It was as if he was used to seeing bloodthirsty, pale and snarling faces constantly.

Not too far into the dream, when all hope seemed to be waning, a mysterious figure emerged from the surrounding forest, carrying heaping piles of sheets of printer paper and pictures. The vampires had scented him, their snarls of anger shifting to faces of fearful respect. They'd part the way, allowing this new dream member to walking comfortably towards Damiana. The figure dropped the documents at Damiana's feet and picked one up to show her; there was a photograph attached to it by a paperclip. It seemed like a profile of some sort, listing everything from favorite hunting ground to most recent mate. The usefulness of this paper confused her; she didn't want to know about the leeches, just kill them. But the figure insisted, holding the profile up until Damiana was forced to grab it. The picture paperclipped to the top was that of a young woman who was vaguely familiar, but the dream haze was making it difficult for her to comprehend it.

She glanced up from the paper, only to find that the figure was gone and was replaced by Reece. He smirked at her, his flawless looks made even more smoldering in the dream haze. If it weren't for his piercing red eyes and nauseating aura, Damiana couldn't have resisted. She watched him carefully, not trusting him for a second. His smirk seemed to grow, becoming more and more alluring to her. She was tempted to step forward when Daniel hopped in front of her, blocking her view. She seemed to snap out of her haze long enough to notice him there. He didn't say a word, only stood before Reece to block his approach. Then, the edges of her dream became fuzzy. The area surrounding her and all the vampires seemed to fade, leaving only her and Daniel to be there alone in a white space. Damiana reached for his shoulder to turn him around. What she found was sickening.

His face seemed two tones lighter than usual, as if all his blood had abandoned his face. And his eyes… they were the same piercing red that Reece's had been. His mouth moved, but no sound seemed to follow. Damiana struggled through the haze to follow his lips well enough. They seemed to be forming the words, "How did I become this? What could I have done wrong? Please Damiana, help me." At that point, Damiana had jerked awake, her tank top and shorts soaked through with a cold sweat. She looked around her room quickly, as if she were trying to assure herself that she wouldn't find Reece hiding in her computer chair or behind her closet doors. Upon seeing nothing, she still didn't feel any relief. Damiana looked to her nightstand, spotting her cellphone. She reached over, knowing exactly what would reassure her. The numbers came to her easily, her memory being extremely sharp even in her post-nightmare stress.

One ring. _C'mon, answer the phone, damnit._ Two rings. _I know your cell is on._ Three rings. _For Macht's sake, this is hardly being here for me when I need it!_ Four rings. _Answer the goddamn PHONE!_ Five rings. She was tempted to hang up when she suddenly heard the click of someone picking up.

"It's 4 in the fucking morning, what do you want?" A groggy and irritable Daniel answered his phone. His voice was hoarse and it cracked ever so slightly.

"I'm sorry, Daniel, did I wake you up?" Damiana asked innocently, knowing full well that she had. "I'm sorry; I'll let you get back to sleep…"

"No, no, Dami. Really, it's fine." Daniel said, his voice getting a tiny bit faster and nervous. His voice seemed calmer as he continued, "Whatever you need, I'm here."

"I had a, uhm… nightmare. Something I'm not entirely used to." Damiana said quietly, hating to admit that she'd been scared of something so harmless as her own subconscious. She felt pretty weak at that point.

"What? You don't have nightmares?" He asked outright, seeming skeptical. Daniel wasn't very courteous when he was tired, not that anyone would or could blame him.

"Well, I usually don't dream whatsoever. And to top it all off, the first time I dream in a while, I have a nightmare." Damiana was out of bed and pacing the floor already, feeling the need to move to ease her restless feelings.

"Mhmm…" Daniel murmured into the phone groggily, "Only thing I can think to tell you, Dami, is to count sheep. Or count back from 100 or something."

Damiana sighed, defeated, "I guess I could try that. I don't know how well it'll work, but I'll still try." She took a moment to settle back into bed before saying her farewells to Daniel, "I guess I'll let you get back to sleep. Thanks Daniel, it means a lot."

Damiana was greeted by muted snoring and even breathing from Daniel's end. "Daniel?" She waited a second for any response. When she was greeted by more breathing and a tiny snore, she ended the call, "Heh, yeah, thanks Daniel." She put the phone back in its rightful place on her nightstand and lay back on her pillows.

She tried counting back from 100. When that failed, she tried counting sheep. She even tried counting 100 sheep backwards but that just seemed to wake her up even further. Giving up on falling back to sleep, she threw off her covers once more and got out of bed. Her door opened easily and the stairs didn't creak as she had expected them to

Needless to say, the first floor was void of any other living things. Had her mother been downstairs, she'd have questioned why her daughter couldn't sleep. Damiana couldn't imagine her mother understanding such a dream, pointing out that it wasn't just any mortal she was protecting: it was Daniel. Damiana plopped down on the couch, lying back and looking at the ceiling. She played out the possible conversation that would've taken place had her mother been there to greet her.

"_Damiana. What's wrong, babe? You're up pretty early. Is something bothering you?" _Nina would say, playing the "I'm the anxious mother" card.

"_No, mother, I'm fine."_ Damiana would answer.

"_You can't hide your anxious aura, Dami. Come on; tell your mother what's up. Bad dream?"_ Nina would sit at the kitchen table at this point and beckon Damiana to sit beside her.

Damiana would sit reluctantly, not daring to look in her mother's eyes, _"Yeah, a bad dream."_

"_Anything you would like to talk about? I'm your mom; you know I'll try to help you out in any bad situations you may have."_ Nina would push Damiana's hair out of her face, reinforcing her usual concerns with the way her hair hung in her face.

"_Honestly, mom, it's nothing. Can I just head back to bed now?"_ Damiana would then try to get up from her mother's grasp, but her mother knew all the mom usual tricks.

"_Oh, I'm sorry. I was just concerned for my daughter is all. I just wanted to see how I could help her in her time of need and confusion."_ Nina would slather on a thick layer of guilt until she knew she had gotten to Damiana's weak point.

Damiana would sigh at this point and sit back down next to her mother, _"Fine, mom. I just had a dream with some vampires. That's it. No more, no less."_

"_Damiana, I know you. Your nightmares aren't about vampires alone. If they were, you probably wouldn't be so eager to kick their asses every chance you got. You'd just sit cowering in your room, refusing to leave for fear that the 'scary pale monsters' would get to you. C'mon, spill. What else was there?"_ Nina would turn Damiana's face to look her in the eyes, a look of honest interest in her eyes. There was a gleam of honest concern masked by the overwhelming interest.

"_Ugh, Macht above, I was in a clearing with a mortal-"_ Damiana would begin.

"_What mortal?"_ Her mom would try to act casual, but fail miserably.

"_Just someone from school. We were in the middle of a group of vampires and-"_

"_Just someone? When you say it like that, I know it isn't 'just someone'. You know you can trust me, Dami."_ Nina would pull her daughter a bit closer, draping an arm around her shoulders.

"_Just… a classmate. So the vampires are coming closer and-"_

"_Which classmate?"_ Nina would press further. When she desperately wanted information, she'd stop at nothing to get it.

"_A close friend who I have a lot of classes with. Anyway-"_

"_Who?"_

Damiana would sigh, frustrated, _"Macht above, mother! Daniel, alright? It was Daniel."_ Her hands would fly in the air and she would get up out of her chair to stand with her back to her mother.

"_That __**boy**__ you were talking about a while back? You're friends with him now? And you're __**dreaming**__ about him? Damiana, what have I told you a million times about mortals?"_ Nina would stand, too, her hands on her hips and her face painted with an irritated expression. When Damiana didn't grace her with an answer for a minute or two, she pushed on, "_Damiana, answer me when I'm talking directly to you!"_

"'_That they're just something to protect and occasionally look at, but never to be anything more or anything less.' But he's my friend, mom! He's nice to me and not because I've done anything cool or impressive in front of him. He likes me for who I am, not what I am! Is it wrong of me to want that?"_ Damiana would mimic her mother and then spin to face her, shouting angrily.

"_But will they continue on the Arun line? No. You hear that Damiana Arun? No, they won't. You'll only get weaker witches or just mortals. Aruns aren't weak, nor are they human! And what would happen when he starts to age and you don't, hmm? Ever think of that? Do you think you could handle seeing your husband dying while you look 17, maybe 18?"_ Nina's hands would wave around frantically, her face turning slowly redder. Neither Dami nor her mother would dare cross the gap separating them now.

"_Maybe I didn't think about that, mother, but-"_

"_That's right, you __**didn't**__ think. You only thought of yourself and not your family."_ Nina would interrupt.

"_Oh, so I should jeopardize __**my**__ happiness for the sake of my family? I'm not the only Arun female around to help pass on the name, mom. There's plenty of other's out there who are probably glad to, no, honored!, to do it!"_ Damiana would scream back, throwing her own brand of guilt at her mother. _"Yeah, maybe I don't want to become a mother when I still look like a high schooler! Maybe I'm not ready to be gossiped about by the neighbors while they talk over coffee. Maybe I don't want to be the type of mother __**you**__ had been and still are!!"_

Damiana found herself gripping the edge of the sofa angrily. She eased up, laying her hand gently on her stomach. She continued to gaze up at the ceiling, her mood soured. She knew there was a reason she never ran over conversations like that in her mind. She'd done it before with her aunt and grandmother. They were as straight-laced as her mother, if not more. It was as if they had no capacity to try to be open-minded. They stuck so steadfastly to the old teachings and traditions that opening their minds to new ones was a challenge Damiana wasn't sure how to approach. They'd need some patience and a lot of prodding to get them to see the other side of things.

Damiana suddenly thought back to memories of her great grandmother, whom she'd gotten her name from. Great Grandma Atla was so kind and gentle. She always treated humans as more than something to be protected: she treated them as friends and people of value. Damiana had tried to do the same, seeing mortals as people and not just naïve children who needed constant babysitting or coaxing. She knew mortals were frustrating sometimes and needed coaching but so did witches! It's not like mortals are just some priceless artifact in a museum and witches are the night guards there silently watching over them. Mortals have feelings and ideas, too, unlike a priceless Ming vase. Her mother couldn't blame her for treating them as they should be treated.

Damiana sat bolt upright, having heard a noise outside the sliding glass doors leading to the backyard. She vaulted over the back of the couch and sprinted to the doors, throwing one of them open. She nearly burst right through the screen when she noticed a piece of paper folded neatly and left on the deck. The small white rectangle seemed to glow in the moonlight, as if it were proclaiming its importance.

Damiana slid the screen door open and took one more precautionary glance into the shadows of the forest. Feeling only moderately satisfied, she finally knelt down and retrieved the note, not daring to take her eyes off of the gently swaying branches. She retreated back into the living room, still refusing to take her gaze off of the forest. When the glass doors were shut and locked, she finally managed to avert her eyes to the small paper in her palm. Even when it was out of the moonlight, it still seemed to glow with importance.

She unfolded it slowly, being careful not to smudge anything if there were anything to be smudged. The creases were sharp, as if they had been folded very recently. She knelt down at the coffee table and flattened the sheet of paper on the glass surface. She studied the paper closely. The top half seemed to have been printed off of a computer while the bottom seemed to be a photocopy of something. There was a simple sentence on the top, written cryptically.

_D-_

_They're after Belanger. He isn't safe. Keep an eye out for him._

_-I_

The message puzzled her slightly, until she glanced down at the photocopied half of the paper. It seemed to be a profile of some sort, nearly the same as the one in her nightmare. It listed a name (first and last), date of birth, birthplace, hometown, and address. The rest had been cut off by the photocopier. The name, hometown, and address had been circled repeatedly. Taped to the bottom half of the paper was a printed color picture of a teenage boy. His hair was long, hanging down just enough o cover his ears. It was a dark brown that matched the color of his eyes perfectly. He had a pierced lip with a sterling silver hoop. His face seemed to say "Fuck it; I'm only doing this because I don't have a choice."

Damiana proceeded to pick apart the typed message. The "they" in the message obviously meant vampires; otherwise this tip would've been turned over to the police. Belanger was the boy: Thomas Belanger. So this kid was being hunted by the leeches, huh? What did he do to them? Insult their complexions? She fought to suppress a giggle when something came back to her, a conversation she'd had that afternoon.

"_He gets the dirt on other vampires: names, weaknesses, strengths. It's pretty extensive; you name a vampire and he could tell you what he had for breakfast, or, rather, who he had." The vampire smiled wickedly before continuing, "He sells the info off to vampire clans. They use it for fights over hunting territory or just as revenge. Sometimes it's just to know the enemy or for blackmail purposes. Every vampire wants him dead, but at the same time, no one wants to lose their precious Informer. That's how he gets his protection: he's untouchable. Until… well, you know."_

"_What? Until what?!" Damiana said, pulling the vampire up until their noses nearly touched._

"_Until he messes with a vampire who's too proud and tough. Us 'leeches' are immensely proud creatures. We can't handle being down talked or blackmailed. Giving away a vampire's weaknesses is definitely a horrible blow to the ego and a possible death sentence. You know, I'm surprised he's even lived this long. I wouldn't give him much longer before he finally gives out the wrong information to someone."_

This realization hit Damiana hard. Had she found the infamous Informer? Had it been this easy? But if he was the Informer, who had given her this profile? A leech? No, once the Informer was outted for what he was doing, everyone would want his head. This couldn't be from the kid pictured below.

Unless he was giving her this information to get her to come and help him. It certainly was an interesting way to get your point across. But why would he even trust her this much with this kind of information? Why did he just assume that she could be trusted with this? Again, the realization took Damiana by surprise. She does fight vampires, and protecting humans is basically her entire life's goal. Of course a completely **human** Informer would want to trust someone who is protecting humans. But how did he know what she was? She didn't exactly broadcast it to the world. On top of that, she'd never even seen this kid before. Damiana suddenly felt panicky, a feeling of being watched settling in with her panic. She'd been watched and didn't even realize it! Damn, this Informer must be good.

But… why not ask Damiana openly for help? If he knew where she lived, why could he not just come to her personally and ask like a normal person? Would it have been too difficult for him? Damiana sighed and rubbed her temples, feeling the strain of thought wearing on her nerves. She knew she couldn't give up now, though. She wanted to be certain what she was dealing with before she confronted this guy.

Why would he just leave a note for her without showing his face? Did he think she'd decline if she'd seen him? She knew she wasn't that shallow and mean. She'd help anyone if they came to her with a vampire problem on their hands. There had to be a reason why he couldn't come by personally. Perhaps he was being courteous, knowing he couldn't come by during the daytime because it wasn't entirely safe for him. But he wouldn't come by at night because he didn't want to disrupt her family. It was a stretch but it was one she had to take.

Damiana stopped mid-thought. _Why am I finding reasons __**why**__ I should help this kid? Am I really shallow, then? Do I already not want to help this guy because he helps out vampires?_ Damiana moaned softly to herself, the scrambled thoughts beginning to build up to a headache. She refolded the paper and tucked it into her bra where she knew her mom wouldn't manage to find it. Once it was positioned perfectly, she crawled over to the sofa, lay down, and fell back into another fitful sleep.

This time, the mysterious cloaked figure in her nightmare was switched with a very tough looking guy with a sterling silver lip ring and dark brown hair and eyes, kneeling down in front of her to ask for her protection.

* * *

Author's Note: New chapter, new chapter, new chapter! I've been on a roll recently: school's out for the summer, new relationships, fun things coming my way, and an overall euphoric mood. Sorry, it's just a boring chapter and I know I promised more of the loveable baddy that is Reece but I wasn't sure how to add him in, I'm sorry! I absolutely **promise** he'll be around in the next chapter. Heck, I may make it all about him!

Anywho, Damiana's very confused now, it seems. Wouldn't you be, too, if you were finally on the verge of confronting the only human who's smart enough to get such an upperhand over the dreaded "leeches"? I know I would, but my imagination is just wild enough to manage it. But I better end here before I drag this author's note on longer than the actual story!

Reviews are always **greatly** appreciated! I'd mail you muffins for your reviews but my meager funds won't cover the shipping costs so just enjoy the thought of my gratitude and the muffiny goodness it would come with.


	11. Nerves

**11. Nerves**

"Mmm," Reece murmured, savoring the taste of the young girl's blood as it glided down his throat in a deliciously warm current. Although the current began to slow, his strength continued to skyrocket, until the current stopped entirely. The body pressed close to his perfectly muscled torso went limp, finally succumbing to death. He lay the body down gently, taking care to treat it as respectfully as he dared. If anyone happened to see his moment of weakness, he'd lose the power he possessed over them. It was his ruthless and contemptuous nature that kept the other vampires in the clan fearful and obedient. He knew that one slip-up, one **little** mistake, would awaken the independent spirit in them all and send them scurrying off.

Reece laughed to himself, imagining what the many vampires in his clan would be like without each other. It'd be only a matter of time before they were either attacked by other vampires or killed one too many people, alerting the world to their existence. If it hadn't been for his father's leadership abilities and charisma, they'd have done just that already. And when… circumstances had changed and Reece had joined, he helped to further strengthen the bonds of the group. It was selfish and self-centered to think of himself as the main bonding agent, and he knew it was. Hell, everyone knew that if it weren't for him, Terrence's plans for a united vampire front would've been only a fleeting dream. Reece was the proverbial glue holding the together.

Reece forced himself to come back into reality, to focus on the present instead of some of the stinging memories of the past. He placed the girl's hands on her stomach gently, wiped the two small trails of blood leading from the puncture wounds on her neck, and closed her eyes. He brushed his hand over the dew covered leaves below and straightened himself out. He glanced down at the eerily peaceful young woman he'd lured and drained of blood. Somewhere deep within, there was a pinprick of pain stabbing into him, something he willed never to feel. Reece wrenched his gaze away from the body and dashed off back towards the safety of his powerful position, back to the numb feeling he'd managed to grow and nourish within himself. He couldn't afford sympathy or weakness.

He was nearing the edge of the camp. He knew this by memory more than pure scent or aura. He'd been here with his father and this clan for nearly 110 years, having helped to set these borders himself. Reece was extremely bright, "near genius" as his father would say. He'd assembled the feeding schedules, set the borders, and planned defensive actions towards any sort of encroaching attack upon the clan. He'd even set up an escape plan for if they were ever discovered. Not that that was likely: Reece had taken precautions against discovery, too.

He slowed his racing steps down to a saunter. It was his usual gait; something that proclaimed his cool indifference towards the world, as if there was nothing around that he couldn't deal with. In addition to that, he knew it made him look absolutely godly. There were no females in the clan he was particularly attracted to but he knew that sometimes desire was a better controller than fear. Upon reaching the door of his father's quarters, he hesitated. Was there anything dire or important his father had needed done today? Any important task he'd handed out to a clan member? Not that he could recall. There'd only been a small patrol sent out. Reece had to do his father's dirty work once again and order Abby to circle the perimeter of the camp and slightly beyond, searching for any survivors from their most recent fight. He knew his father could handle something like that easily; he could go without Reece for a while.

Reece was just about to head towards his own quarters when his father's voice beckoned him, "Reece! Come here, my son!"

_Shit_, he thought, wanting more than anything to just be able to relax in his favorite chair with one of his many history books he'd collected over the years. It'd been his dream, once, to be able to help make history. He wanted to be in politics, someplace where he would have power over more than just people: over history. "Coming, father," he called back, grabbing the knob and stepping across the threshold onto the onyx-colored marble his father adored.

Terrell sat in his usual chair, looking as regal as usual. A pleased smile spread across his face upon seeing his son enter, "Ah, Reece," he stood, crossed the room and wrapped his son in a friendly hug, "How was your meal?"

"It was fine, father. It went perfectly well." Reece pulled away, Terrell's hands resting on his shoulders still. "How has your morning been so far?"

"Excellent, just excellent," Terrell pat Reece's shoulder jovially and then turned to sit back in his beloved mahogany chair. "Abigail reported back with fantastic news!"

"Oh?" Reece stepped forward until he was a few feet from the raised platform on which his father sat. "Was there a survivor found?" Reece might still feel a tiny pang of pain when killing an innocent mortal, but he had nothing against killing another creature like himself.

Terrell's smile deepened, "Would you enjoy the honors, son?"

"When have I ever turned you down, father?" Reece smiled wickedly, his features taking on an almost devilish quality. He turned and exited his father's quarters and headed toward his own. He wasn't sure whether the captive was conscious or not so he may need some entertainment. He unlocked the door and stepped inside, walking over to one of his many full shelves. He pulled out a volume with a worn leather binding. There were gold embossed letters on the cover, reading simply, "Biology". It was another of his loves: life and the study of it. It was ironic in a way; someone who ends life so easily is absolutely fascinated by it. Reece laughed to himself bitterly.

He tucked the book under his arm, closed and locked his door, then headed towards the containment cells. He unlocked the door to the containment building and locked it behind him. He glanced up and down the hall, looking for a room with an information file in the basket on the door. The last two doors on his left each had a file in their individual baskets. He headed towards them, opening the second to last door. Behind the bars of the cell sat a vampire who looked like he was in his mid-30's. He was short, skinny, and noticeably more pale than your average vampire; quite the opposite of Reece. The captive's hair was jet black, making him seem paler if it were even possible.

The new vampire didn't seem to notice anything. Reece cleared his throat quietly, causing the captive to jump. He was on his feet and pushing on the bars of his cage, trying to reach for Reece. His face was distorted into a hideous snarl. Reece stood there, his eyebrow cocked.

A bemused smile crossed his face. "Heh, feisty, aren't we?"

The other vampire only answered with a low growl.

"Well, let's get this over with, shall we? First of all, what do you call yourself?" Reece pulled up a chair from the corner and lowered himself onto it, facing the bars and the furious male. The other vampire just continued to snarl at him, refusing to offer an answer. "Still not answering? Honestly, that's quite rude of you. Maybe I should've checked your file before I came in… I just assumed you may want to cooperate considering I could easily kill you if I didn't get the information I was searching for." Reece gave a polite smile to the other male, his eyes the only thing portraying his vicious nature.

The other male continued to push on the bars, his arm outstretched towards Reece's chest. Reece sighed deeply.

"Fine," Reece said, nonchalantly, "I can wait. I just wouldn't expect any sort of amenities if I were you, though. I do reserve the valuable things, such as blood, for those who manage to work with me." He opened his book and began to read the first page. A minute or two passed before he spoke again, 20 pages later, "How long has it been?"

The male stopped, curious, "Since…?"

Reece smiled discreetly, knowing he'd trapped him, "Since you've last fed, of course. 2, 3 days, maybe?" He didn't even bother glancing up from his reading.

"4 days, actually." The male said, reluctantly, "There was not much time for it before we left the..." He trailed off, finally realizing what Reece was doing. He hissed.

"4 days? Really? Seems like we'll be playing the waiting game, then. I've fed today already, so I won't be in dire need of blood for another week." Reece paused, pretending to think hard. When he finally answered, his voice was drenched in fake awe, "Why, doesn't that gives you maybe a day or two before you'll just be raving mad with thirst? But that's only if you've got the sort of control that I have."

There was another hiss from the caged male, "You bastard…"

Reece laughed cruelly, "I don't deny that for a second! But now the ball is in your court, my captured friend. All I need is information and you'll be given what you deserve." Reece returned to his reading, enjoying the new information and insight he always seemed to receive whenever he re-read a book.

There were 5 more minutes of silence before the captured male finally broke it, "My name is Richard Hardy from a small camp about 20 miles from here." He sounded defeated and tired, his shoulders sagging slightly. "What else do you want to know?"

Reece suddenly sat forward, his piercing gaze focused on his captive, "Why are you here? What was your camp hoping to gain from us, hmm?"

"More feeding grounds, more members, and information…" Richard said, "We needed information on someone."

"Oh? Just someone or does this someone have a name?" Reece questioned, allowing only a small portion of his irritation to show in his voice.

"The Informer is what they call him. We just wanted to meet him, see what he had on our leader, if anything. We just wanted to make sure-"

"Hah! Of course he has information on your leader! He has information on everyone except my own clan here. I wouldn't allow anyone to have a glimpse into the inner workings of my creation. Unless they plan on not seeing another tomorrow." Reece stood, walking over to the bars slowly. He bent down, looking Richard in the eyes, his tone dangerous, "How much have you seen and heard here?"

"Enough." Richard said, refusing to look Reece in the eye.

"Oh no, no, no." Reece scolded, "That just won't do, will it? We can't have anyone know anything about our camp." Reece fixed Richard with his most horrifying snarl he could muster, scaring Richard have to death.

"Wha-what are you going to do to me?" Richard scrambled backwards a bit, pushing himself up against the opposite wall. His voice was shaking from the shivers running up and down his body.

"Nothing more than what you deserve, Richard, my friend," Reece unlocked the door on the bars and stepped in, closing the door behind him. He was a mere foot from Richard's shaking form. His voice dropped down to nothing more than a smooth whisper, "What a sneak deserves." His hands shot out with lightning speed, grabbing the sides of Richard's head in his hands. In his weak state, Richard had barely any time to react before Reece jerked his neck to the side. There was a loud snap as his neck broke and his flesh tore, the head coming clean off.

Reece stepped back, dropping the dismembered head to the floor. He wiped his hands on Richard's shirt and opened the bar door once more. He pulled out a cell phone and dialed in a number, Alabastor answering on the first ring, "Yes, boss?"

"Alabastor, please come to rooms 1 and 2 in the containment building. There have been a few mishaps that I need cleaned up."

"Right away, boss." Alabastor hung up. Reece did the same, putting his phone back in his pocket. He grabbed his book and went on to the next cell: cell 1.

Inside was a woman, her hair also jet black in color. Reece wasted no time, sprinting up to the bars and tearing the woman's head clean off. With no blood on his hands, he picked up his book off the floor where he'd dropped it and left the containment building. He pulled out his cell phone once more.

"How did it go, son?" Terrell answered after 3 rings. "Anything worthwhile?"

"Nothing more than the usual, father. Fear, blood, dismemberment… nothing surprising coming from me." Reece replied, his voice sounding only slightly annoyed.

His father didn't seem to notice, laughing heartily at his son's joke, "Of course, Reece, of course! Any information I may need to know?"

"It was just another attempt at locating the Informer, father. Like I said, it was nothing surprising. Another clan hoping to see how much the Informer had gotten on them." Reece opened the door to his quarters and put his book back on the shelf gently for another day.

"When will they learn?" Terrell sighed into the phone dramatically, "We're the only clan out there that he hasn't managed to completely crack."

"Yes, I know that, father. And I plan on keeping it that way." Reece ended the call, tossing his phone onto the armchair in the corner. He flopped down onto his chaise lounge, somehow managing to make even that look graceful. He sighed deeply, covering his eyes with his forearm.

Suddenly, there was a knock on his door. Reece groaned, pushing himself out of his comfortable position and growled towards the door, "What the hell do you want?"

"Err, Reece, Terrell told me to come ask you to-"

"Tell my father that he can do it himself if it's so dire. I'm currently busy and wish not to be disturbed." He lay back down, replacing his arm over his eyes once more, "And if he feels so inclined, he can just call me."

"He did tell me you'd say that…" The voice outside his door answered resignedly. Reece could hear them fiddling with something in their hands.

"Of course he did," Reece muttered under his breath, "Trust me, whatever it is, he can certainly handle it on his own or even have Alabastor do it."

"But Reece, he-"

"Did I ask you to talk back? Go tell my father what I said this instant or, so help me, I'll kill you." Reece said, his voice going dangerously quiet. He could hear the vampire at his door retreating quickly.

He sighed deeply again, pushing up off his chaise once more. He grabbed his phone, waiting for his father to call as was expected. Sure enough, Reece's phone rang and he answered it quickly.

"Reece, it's certainly unlike you ignore my requests," Terrell said, his voice a mixture of amusement and confusion.

"Father, I did your dirty work twice already this morning; I think I've earned a bit of time to myself." Reece said, annoyed. He began massaging his forehead.

"Did I say you were finished with your work for the day?" Terrell's voice grew hard and stern.

"Father, I've done plenty today. Whatever you need done, just have Alabastor do it." Reece was desperate now. His nerves were frayed and he just wanted to relax for a while.

"Reece, I don't give a damn what you 'need'. Get your ass over here before I make Alabastor do something a lot more painful for you!" Terrell was threatening now. He would only treat his son well when he obeyed his whims. When Reece wasn't so willing to do so, Terrell reverted to treating him as just another one of his followers.

Reece sighed deeply, admitting defeat, "Fine, father, **fine**. I'll be right there." He ended the call, flung his door open and slammed it shut behind him. If anyone interrupted him on his way to his father's quarters, they wouldn't live to feed again. Barely 10 seconds later, he burst into his father's quarters, glaring daggers at him.

"What in God's name do you want?" He demanded, his temper flaring.

"So wonderful of you to finally join us, Reece. I was beginning to fear that you wouldn't show." Terrell was still seated in his beloved chair, his voice taking on a falsely welcoming tone. He was smiling one of his cruel, vicious smiles.

"Just get to it, father. What is so important that you need me, and only me, to get it done?"

"Oh, so now you're interested in what I have for you, hmm?" Terrell was slathering on the fake happiness, until Reece felt he was drowning in it.

"Yes, now just get on with it. What the **hell** do you need me to do that couldn't have waited maybe an hour or two?" Reece took a few steps towards his father, his face stony.

"Well, I needed someone skilled and careful enough to pay a visit to the Informer. Unless this job is too high above your level, I suggest you get moving so you can be there before tomorrow." Terrell ended the conversation abruptly, leaving Reece standing there like an idiot. His mouth had fallen open. Upon noticing this, he closed it quickly and stormed out of the building, not bothering to close the door behind him.

He took off at a sprint, pocketing his cell phone that he had still been holding. He knew he'd end up needing it.

* * *

"Damiana, what's got you so distracted?" Daniel asked, looking his friend over nervously. She had seemed sort of out of it today. Even after school had ended, she seemed very distracted by some other thoughts. He was just about to get into his car when she had walked up to him and leaned on the roof.y

"Daniel, can I ask you for a favor?" Damiana asked, innocently enough.

"Sure, whatcha need?" Daniel felt something in his chest tighten. He realized prematurely that he was nervous about what was to come.

"Can you give me a ride someplace? I mean, it's out of town but not **that** far out of town. I'll pay for gas and everything!" Damiana clasped her hands together, putting on a pleading face.

"Depends… how far is 'not that far'?" Daniel asked, feeling suspicious.

"Honestly, Daniel, it isn't that far. Just the next town over. I just wanted to visit a cousin of mine who I haven't seen in a while." Damiana held onto her pleading face, trying to guilt Daniel into taking her.

"Alright, when do you want to head out there?" Daniel dug in his pocket for his cell phone, hoping to add the date to its calendar.

"Today. Right now." Damiana reached into Daniel's pocket and grabbed his keys. She unlocked his car and tossed her backpack onto the back seat. "Shotgun!"

"Dami, you're the only other person in the car, of course you get shotgun. Now gimme my keys." He caught the keys Damiana threw to him and got into the driver's. He started his car and pulled out of the parking lot, heading towards wherever Damiana directed him.

* * *

Author's Note: So yeah. Dismemberment. Lovely, isn't it? [Warning: you just passed through a sarcasm heavy zone, side effects may include confusion, sudden dislike of author, or a few laughs.]

**DISCLAIMER:** No vampires were harmed in the writing of this story. In addition, no doors were seriously injured, either.


End file.
